Duel for survival gets last leg of PlusLiga regular season underway on Thursday

The last remaining big question for the Polish PlusLiga regular season will find its answer on Thursday evening with the very first match of the last leg to be played through Monday, March 24. Who will be the third team to face relegation to the second division and who will survive in the PlusLiga for next season will be decided in a head-to-head battle between Barkom Kazhany Lviv and PSG Stal Nysa.

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The only foreign team in the league, Ukraine’s Barkom Kazhany Lviv, will host PSG Stal Nysa in Tarnow on March 20 at 17:30 local time (16:30 UTC). The home team needs a 3-0 or a 3-1 victory to surpass its opponent in the final regular season standings and avoid relegation. For Stal, winning at least two sets in this crucial match would be equivalent to salvation. The squad from Nysa stands right above the red line in the current standings, in 13^th place on 25 points and a 7-22 win-loss record. Barkom Kazhany are just two points below them, in 14^th place on 23 and 8-21. A week ago that gap was five points wide and looked quite difficult to wipe out, but the team from Lviv took a three-point away win over Nowak-Mosty MKS Bedzin on Saturday to set up a do-or-die duel with Stal.

When the two teams met in Nysa in December, Stal achieved a four-set victory with a 24-point match high from their Moroccan outside hitter Zouheir El-Graoui. In fact, Stal have won all five previous encounters with Barkom Kazhany in the PlusLiga, and always by 3-0 or 3-1.

“Of course, emotions will be at the highest level. Both teams will play under great pressure. I think that the team that is able to control their nerves better and stick together all the time should win this match,” Barkom Kazhany’s Norwegian middle blocker Rune Fasteland told plusliga.pl. “From our point of view, it is good to play this crucial match at the hall where we train every day. I think that our form has been very good recently, so I hope that we will be able to show it on the court on Thursday. This will be our most important match this season, so I am really excited and a little nervous. I hope that we will emerge victorious from a great battle.”

The remaining matches of the 30^th leg will be mainly about finalizing the grid for the playoffs.

In Friday’s only match, at 20:30 (19:30), ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle will visit the doomed GKS Katowice aiming to collect as many points as possible with the hope to eventually climb a spot up to fourth place in the final standings. Currently, ZAKSA are in fifth on 59 and 20-9, just a point below BOGDANKA LUK Lublin.

BOGDANKA LUK Lublin, in a very positive mood after winning the club’s first ever continental trophy, the CEV Challenge Cup, this week, will welcome Cuprum Stilon Gorzow Wielkopolski in the closing match of the regular season on Monday at 17:30 (16:30). The team from Lublin stands on 60 and 20-9 and will try to stay where they are, in fourth place. Regardless of any results, Cuprum Stilon will finish in 12^th place.

Saturday’s program will open at 14:45 (13:45) with a titanic clash between defending champions Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj and the holders of the national cup and the national super cup trophies Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie. Jastrzebski Wegiel lead the table on 75 and 24-5 and have already secured pole position for the playoffs. Aluron, standing third on 69 and 23-6, aim at moving up a spot to the runner-up position, but a victory for either side in this rivalry is already prestigious enough on its own merit. Plus, the champions want revenge for the five-set defeat in September’s super cup final, while the team from Zawercie need redemption for losing December’s home match with Jastrzebski Wegiel in straight sets. In addition, this game will offer a preview of the CEV Champions League semifinal between these two clubs in May.

PGE Projekt Warsaw are the other team that hopes to finish second. They are in the runner-up spot before the upcoming leg on 69 and 25-4. In Saturday’s late match, at 20:30 (19:30), they will entertain Slepsk Malow Suwalki, who are set to take ninth or 10^th place in the final table, either way below the cut-off for the playoffs.

Saturday’s competition day will also offer a direct battle between Steam Hemarpol Norwid Czestochowa and PGE GiEK SKRA Belchatow for the seventh place in the regular season standings and in the playoff bracket. On a 16-13 win-loss record each, they are currently eighth on 46 points and seventh on 48, respectively. The deciding duel in Czestochowa will serve off at 17:30 (16:30).

Trefl Gdansk, 11^th on 34 and 11-18, will host Indykpol AZS Olsztyn, 10^th on 37 and 11-18, on Sunday at 14:45 (13:45), with each side hoping to end the season on a high note and above the opponent in the standings.

Asseco Resovia Rzeszow, who are sure to finish the regular season in sixth place, will try to extend the winning streak they have been on for 16 matches now, and start preparing for the upcoming playoffs as they meet bottom-placed Nowak-Mosty MKS Bedzin at home on Sunday at 17:30 (16:30).

PlusLiga 2024-2025 30th leg:
Mar 20, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): Barkom Kazhany Lviv v PSG Stal Nysa
Mar 21, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): GKS Katowice v ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle
Mar 22, 14:45 local (13:45 UTC): Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj v Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie
Mar 22, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): Steam Hemarpol Norwid Czestochowa v PGE GiEK SKRA Belchatow
Mar 22, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): PGE Projekt Warsaw v Slepsk Malow Suwalki
Mar 23, 14:45 local (13:45 UTC): Trefl Gdansk v Indykpol AZS Olsztyn
Mar 23, 14:45 local (13:45 UTC): Trefl Gdansk v Indykpol AZS Olsztyn
Mar 24, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): BOGDANKA LUK Lublin v Cuprum Stilon Gorzow Wielkopolski

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