PlusLiga leg continues to surprise through the end

The 18^th leg of the men’s volleyball PlusLiga in Poland continued to produce surprises through its very end which came on Tuesday evening with Slepsk Malow Suwalki’s stunning three-point win at Indykpol AZS Olsztyn. Before that, on Monday evening, rookies InPost ChKS Chelm celebrated an away victory over Steam Hemarpol Politechnika Czestochowa. So, in as many as five of the seven matches in this leg, the visiting teams celebrated success.

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Slepsk Malow Suwalki achieved a 3-1 (22-25, 25-21, 25-19, 25-21) road win over Indykpol AZS Olsztyn, a team that is generally having a great season and was fourth in the current standings before the start of the 18^th leg. With that victory, Slepsk Malow, who were even at the bottom of the table at some point during the season, can now feel relatively safe for their spot in the PlusLiga. Standing in 10^th place on 21 points and a 6-11 win-loss record, six points below the current cut-off for the playoffs, they have even put themselves in a position to meddle in the race for the quarterfinal spots. Meanwhile, Indykpol are down to fifth place on 31 and 11-5, with a game in hand.

Slepsk Malow were led by their Bulgarian outside hitter Asparuh Asparuhov, who spiked 14 points at a 70% success rate in attack and added a kill block towards a team-high 15 points, earning the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award. Opposite Bartosz Filipiak, Brazilian outside Henrique Honorato and American middle blocker David Smith also reached the double digits with 14, 11 and 10 points for the winners, respectively. German outside Moritz Karlitzek was the best scorer of the match with 18 points, including three aces and a block.

On Monday, InPost ChKS Chelm battled it out for a hard-fought 3-1 (22-25, 29-27, 25-23, 26-24) comeback victory over their hosts Steam Hemarpol Politechnika Czestochowa and also widened the distance from the danger zone to five points, standing in 11^th place on 16 and 5-12. The danger zone continues to be occupied by Steam, trailing bottom in 14^th place on 11 and 3-13, with a game in hand.

Chelm’s opposite Remigiusz Kapica claimed the MVP nomination after emerging as the team’s best scorer of the match with 20 points. He put away two aces and two kill blocks, and registered a 52% success rate in swinging. Outside hitters Pawel Rusin and Iran’s Amirhossein Esfandiar added 16 and 15 points, respectively, while middle blocker Lukasz Swodczyk impressed with four stuffs and an ace towards an 11-point tally. Czech opposite Patrik Indra was the most prolific scorer of the match with 21 points for the hosts from Czestochowa.

The 19^th leg will be played from Friday, January 30, to Monday, February 2.

PlusLiga 2025-2026 19th leg schedule:
Jan 30, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): PGE GiEK SKRA Belchatow v InPost ChKS Chelm
Jan 30, 20:00 local (19:00 UTC): Barkom Kazhany Lviv v ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle
Jan 31, 14:45 local (13:45 UTC): JSW Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj v Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie
Feb 01, 14:45 local (13:45 UTC): Asseco Resovia Rzeszow v BOGDANKA LUK Lublin
Feb 01, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): Energa Trefl Gdansk v PGE Projekt Warsaw
Feb 01, 20:00 local (19:00 UTC): Indykpol AZS Olsztyn v Steam Hemarpol Politechnika Czestochowa
Feb 02, 20:00 local (19:00 UTC): Slepsk Malow Suwalki v Cuprum Stilon Gorzow Wielkopolski

PlusLiga 2025-2026 schedule and results

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