Jastrzebski wins regular season, Barkom stays alive

With one leg to go to the end of the regular season in the Polish PlusLiga, there are still a number of pending questions as to the exact starting positions of the quarterfinalists in the playoff bracket and the third team to be sentenced to relegation. The matches of the 29^th leg that came to a completion on Monday evening offered a couple of answers. Defending champion Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj will finish the regular season in first place, while Asseco Resovia Rzeszow will finish in sixth. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Barkom Kazhany Lviv took valuable three points in the fight for survival in the PlusLiga and left the resolution down to a direct clash with PSG Stal Nysa in the last leg of regular season action.

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Barkom Kazhany Lviv achieved a 3-1 (23-25, 25-19, 25-18, 25-18) away victory over bottom-placed and already relegated Nowak-Mosty MKS Bedzin, and taking advantage of PSG Stal Nysa’s 3-0 (25-19, 25-20, 25-16) home loss to Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie, narrowed the gap between the two teams to just two points. So when Barkom hosts Stal on Thursday, it will be a direct do-or-die battle for salvation. Stal are above the red line in the current standings, in 13th place on 25 points and a 7-22 win-loss record, while the Ukrainian team is in 14^th place on 23 and 8-21.

Estonian outside hitter Mart Tammearu earned the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award in Barkom Kazhany’s win in Bedzin. He contributed 21 points, including three aces, and shared the top scorer honours with Nowak-Mosty’s opposite Patryk Szwaradzki. Meanwhile, opposite Karol Butryn led Aluron to victory in Nysa with 17 points to his name. The team from Zawercie stayed in third place on 69 and 23-6 and kept its chances to move up to second.

Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj put together a 3-1 (27-29, 25-21, 25-20, 25-23) home win over BOGDANKA LUK Lublin and improved to 75 and 24-5. Six points clear at the top, they can no longer lose the pole position for the playoffs. Lublin are in fourth place on 60 and 20-9, but still under threat to drop to fifth. Outside Tomasz Fornal led Jastrzebski Wegiel with 15 points, while BOGDANKA’s opposite Kewin Sasak came up with a match-high 21, including three aces and two kill blocks.

In the most interesting match of the 29^th leg, Asseco Resovia Rzeszow recovered from two sets down to celebrate a 3-2 (27-29, 27-29, 25-18, 25-23, 15-9) away victory over ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle, thus extending their impressive winning streak to 15 games between the PlusLiga and Europe’s CEV Cup. French opposite Stephen Boyer was instrumental to Resovia’s success and contributed a match-high 39 points. The team from Rzeszow cemented itself in sixth place on 56 and 18-11. ZAKSA are just above them, in fifth place on 59 and 20-9. The point earned guaranteed them that they can no longer go down from there, but they still have a shot at going up to fourth place.

In another meeting between participants in the upcoming playoffs, PGE Projekt Warsaw claimed a 3-1 (25-21, 21-25, 25-23, 25-22) win on the road at PGE GiEK SKRA Belchatow to stay in the runner-up position on 69 and 25-4, ahead of Aluron on number of wins. SKRA remained in seventh place on 48 and 16-13, no longer with an opportunity to climb up, but still at risk of going down to eighth. Opposite Bartlomiej Boladz was Projekt’s best scorer with 20 points, while his Iranian counterpart Amin Esmaeilnezhad put away a match-high 27 for SKRA.

In the leg’s closing match on Monday, powered by Czech opposite Patrik Indra with a match-high 21 points, Steam Hemarpol Norwid Czestochowa stayed in contention for SKRA’s seventh place with a 3-0 (25-23, 25-18, 25-22) sweep of their visit to Trefl Gdansk. Norwid is still in eighth place on 46 and 16-3, while Trefl is 11^th on 34 and 11-18.

On Friday, Indykpol AZS Olsztyn produced a 3-1 (21-25, 25-23, 25-19, 25-18) victory over their host Cuprum Stilon Gorzow Wielkopolski with a 26-point match high from their Czech opposite Jan Hadrava. They surpassed Trefl into 10^th place on 37 and 11-18, while Cuprum Stilon stand 12^th on 28 and 11-18.

The last leg of the regular season will be played from Thursday, March 20, to Monday, March 24.

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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