Cuprum Stilon and Trefl produce upsets in last PlusLiga leg for 2024

The Polish PlusLiga wrapped up the 2024 calendar year with seven matches of the 18^th leg in the regular season played from Saturday to Monday. Cuprum Stilon Gorzow Wielkopolski and Trefl Gdansk managed to achieve the most surprising results of the weekend by shutting out higher placed opponents.

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The PlusLiga weekend opened on Saturday afternoon with BOGDANKA LUK Lublin’s 3-1 (26-24, 22-25, 25-16, 25-15) home victory over Barkom Kazhany Lviv. Lublin’s star outside hitter Wilfredo Leon was the best scorer of the match with 20 points, including three aces and two kill blocks. Placed fourth in the current standings, BOGDANKA improved to 38 points and a 13-5 win-loss record, while the Ukrainian team are still second to last, in 15^th place on 11 and 4-14.

Several straight-set results followed. In Saturday’s second match, Steam Hemarpol Norwid Czestochowa hammered out a 3-0 (25-15, 25-16, 25-12) sweep of their away match against Nowak-Mosty MKS Bedzin with a 19-point match high from Iranian outside Milad Ebadipour. Norwid are in sixth place on 32 and 11-7, while Nowak-Mosty are still within the relegation zone, in 14^th place on 12 and 3-15.

In Sunday’s opener, second-placed PGE Projekt Warsaw mastered a 3-0 (29-27, 25-22, 25-23) away win over PSG Stal Nysa and collected 44 points and a 16-2 win-loss record, while leaving the opponents in 13^th place on 15 and 4-14. Projekt’s opposite Bartlomiej Boladz topped the match chart with 19 points.

Then, 12^th-placed Cuprum Stilon Gorzow Wielkopolski surprised 10^th-placed Slepsk Malow Suwalki with a 3-0 (25-21, 26-24, 25-22) away shutout. The two teams kept their positions in the table, but now only a point away from each other, on 22 and 9-9, and on 23 and 9-9, respectively. Cuprum’s Brazilian opposite Chizoba Neves was the best scorer of the match with 18 points.

In Sunday’s late game, Trefl Gdansk stunned their visitors PGE GiEK SKRA Belchatow with a 3-0 (29-27, 25-23, 25-21) sweep. They are still in 11^th place, but now level on points with 10^th-placed Slepsk, 23 and 7-11. SKRA kept their seventh place on 28 and 10-8. Trefl’s opposite Aliaksei Nasevich put away the match high of 21 points.

Two matches were played on Monday. In the first one, hosts Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie came back from a set down to celebrate a 3-1 (22-25, 25-19, 26-24, 25-21) win over Asseco Resovia Rzeszow. Opposite Karol Butryn was the match top scorer with 21 points. Aluron are running third in the table on 42 and 14-4, while Resovia stayed in eighth place on 28 and 8-10.

In the weekend’s closing game, between the top and the bottom teams in the standings, Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj gained a 3-0 (25-23, 28-26, 25-16) home victory over GKS Katowice to improve to 47 and 15-3 and leave the opponents in 16^th place on 6 and 2-16. French outside Timothee Carle made a match-high contribution of 14 points to the leaders’ success.

The last fixture of the 18^th leg, between ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle and Indykpol AZS Olsztyn, will take place on February 27, while the eight matches of the 19^th leg will be played next, from Friday, January 3, to Monday, January 6.

PlusLiga 2024-2025 19th leg:
Jan 03, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): Steam Hemarpol Norwid Czestochowa v PSG Stal Nysa
Jan 04, 12:30 local (11:30 UTC): GKS Katowice v Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie
Jan 04, 14:45 local (13:45 UTC): PGE GiEK SKRA Belchatow v BOGDANKA LUK Lublin
Jan 04, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): Indykpol AZS Olsztyn v Nowak-Mosty MKS Bedzin
Jan 05, 14:45 local (13:45 UTC): Trefl Gdansk v Slepsk Malow Suwalki
Jan 05, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): Cuprum Stilon Gorzow Wielkopolski v ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle
Jan 06, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): PGE Projekt Warsaw v Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj
Jan 06, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): Asseco Resovia Rzeszow v Barkom Kazhany Lviv

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