Boladz fuels Projekt to comeback from two sets down against Jastrzebski

The 19^th leg in the Polish PlusLiga regular season offered a bunch of interesting results. In the most anticipated clash between the top two teams in the current standings, Bartlomiej Boladz came in as a substitution to power PGE Projekt Warsaw to a comeback from two sets down against defending champions and table leaders Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj on Monday evening.

• Watch the PlusLiga on VBTV.

PGE Projekt Warsaw’s opposite Bartlomiej Boladz was not among the team’s starters for the big home game against mighty Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj. Things did not start well for the hosts and soon they were two sets behind. Boladz first entered the court as a substitution during the second set. For the next three, he was among Projekt’s main seven and proved instrumental towards the 3-2 (21-25, 20-25, 25-20, 25-19, 15-10) turnaround. He emerged as the best scorer of the match with 14 points, including three aces and a kill block, and earned a well-deserved MVP award. Middle blocker Jakub Kochanowski added another 10 points towards Projekt’s success, while outside Tomasz Fornal was Jastrzebski’s most prolific scorer with 13 points. This result narrowed the gap between the two teams. Jastrzebski are still in the lead on 48 points and a 15-4 win-loss record. Projekt are in second place on 46 and 17-2.

Monday’s programme offered one more five-setter and probably the most unexpected result of the leg. Ukraine’s Barkom Kazhany Lviv achieved a nail-biting 3-2 (25-23, 25-17, 20-25, 21-25, 16-14) away win over Asseco Resovia Rzeszow and climbed to 14^th place, just below the cut-off line for relegation, on 13 and 5-14. Resovia kept the eighth place, now on 29 and 8-11. Opposite Vasyl Tupchii led the winners with 22 points, while the MVP award went to outside Ilia Kovalov, who finished with 18. Slovenian striker Klemen Cebulj was the best scorer of the match with 24 points for Resovia.

“This is something we have been talking about within the team for a long time, that in every match we have to show character, energy and emotions,” Barkom’s Finnish setter Santeri Valimaa told plusliga.pl. “Of course, it is easier to have positive emotions and show joy if you are winning. In Rzeszow we played amazingly for the first two sets. At that time we were very happy. Then it was more difficult, so these emotions changed a bit. The match was very even, it was difficult, but in the end we could enjoy the victory and that is the most important thing.”

A tie-breaker resolved one of Saturday’s matches as well. BOGDANKA LUK Lublin also came back from two sets down to celebrate a 3-2 (23-25, 18-25, 25-20, 25-12, 15-13) win on the road at PGE GiEK SKRA Belchatow. Star outside Wilfredo Leon led the winners with 27 points, including six aces, and picked up the MVP nomination. Opposite Kewin Sasak scored four aces and four stuffs to finish with 23 points, while Bulgarian middle Aleks Grozdanov impressed with six kill blocks towards a 13-point tally. SKRA’s Iranian opposite Amin Esmaeilnezhad topped the charts with a match-high 28 points. Lublin are in fourth place on 40 and 14-5, while SKRA are seventh on 29 and 10-9.

Third-placed Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie improved to 45 and 15-4 after a 3-1 (21-25, 25-20, 25-21, 25-14) away win over GKS Katowice, who trail bottom, in 16^th place on 6 and 2-17. Americans Kyle Ensing and Aaron Russell led the winners with 21 and 18 points, respectively.

ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle kept their fifth place, now on 37 and 12-6, also after a four-set away win, 3-1 (25-19, 25-20, 21-25, 27-25) over Cuprum Stilon Gorzow Wielkopolski, who occupy 12^th place on 22 and 9-10. Star opposite Bartosz Kurek led the winners with 20 points.

In Friday’s leg opener, Steam Hemarpol Norwid Czestochowa mastered a 3-0 (25-21, 25-17, 25-19) sweep of their home game against PSG Stal Nysa and improved to 35 and 12-7 in sixth place. Stal stand just above the relegation zone, in 13^th place on 15 and 4-15. Outside Bartlomiej Lipinski put away five aces and two kill blocks towards a match-high 20 points for Norwid.

Indykpol AZS Olsztyn narrowed the distance to the playoff spots with a 3-0 (31-29, 25-17, 25-23) shutout of their visitors Nowak-Mosty MKS Bedzin. Outside Nicolas Szerszen and Czech opposite Jan Hadrava led the way with 15 points each. Indykpol are ninth on 27 and 8-10, while Nowak-Mosty fell to 15^th on 12 and 3-16.

Slepsk Malow Suwalki opened a three-point gap from Trefl Gdansk. After a 3-0 (25-21, 25-21, 25-23) sweep of their encounter in Gdansk, with a 20-point match high from opposite Bartosz Filipiak, Slepsk rose to 26 and 10-9 in 10^th place, leaving Trefl behind in 11^th on 23 and 7-12.

The 20^th-leg matches will be played from Thursday, January 9, to Monday, January 13.

PlusLiga 2024-2025 20th leg:
Jan 09, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): Barkom Kazhany Lviv v GKS Katowice
Jan 10, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): Nowak-Mosty MKS Bedzin v Cuprum Stilon Gorzow Wielkopolski
Jan 11, 14:45 local (13:45 UTC): Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie v PGE Projekt Warsaw
Jan 11, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): Asseco Resovia Rzeszow v BOGDANKA LUK Lublin
Jan 12, 14:45 local (13:45 UTC): Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj v Steam Hemarpol Norwid Czestochowa
Jan 12, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): PSG Stal Nysa v Indykpol AZS Olsztyn
Jan 12, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): Slepsk Malow Suwalki v PGE GiEK SKRA Belchatow
Jan 13, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle v Trefl Gdansk

Quick links:
Polish PlusLiga
VBTV
Volleyball World Facebook
Volleyball World X
Volleyball World Instagram
Volleyball World YouTube
Subscribe to Volleyball World's Newsletter