PlusLiga playoff bracket all set, Trefl out even before last match

Even before Monday evening’s last match of the regular season, the playoff bracket in the men’s volleyball PlusLiga in Poland is all set and the quarterfinal match-ups are finalized. JSW Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj and ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle booked the last two available spots among the quarterfinalists over the weekend, leaving the other candidate Energa Trefl Gdansk below the cut-off in the final regular season standings and without a shot at climbing up as they play their last game at Barkom Kazhany Lviv on Monday.

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So, in the best-of-three quarterfinal playoffs, getting underway on March 27, Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie will meet ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle, PGE Projekt Warsaw will take on JSW Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj, BOGDANKA LUK Lublin will face PGE GiEK SKRA Belchatow, while Asseco Resovia Rzeszow will lock horns with Indykpol AZS Olsztyn.

ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle took care of business in the first match of the last leg on Saturday afternoon by winning just what they needed, two sets, upon their visit to regular season winners Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie. In a hard-fought five-setter, last year’s silver medalists squeezed out a 3-2 (23-25, 25-21, 25-20, 23-25, 15-13) home victory and improved to 61 points and a 21-5 win-loss record on top of the table, while ZAKSA cemented their spot within the playoff zone and finished eighth on 40 and 12-14, now four points clear of ninth-placed Trefl. Aluron’s sub-in outside hitter Patryk Laba, who entered the match from the start of the second set, emerged as the best scorer with 21 points, putting away two aces, a kill block and registering a 60% success rate in attack, and claiming the Most Valuable Player (MVP) honors. Aluron and ZAKSA are set to meet again very soon, in their quarterfinal series.

Two sets would have been enough for JSW Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj in their home match against Indykpol AZS Olsztyn on Sunday afternoon, but they went all the way and took the full three points with a 3-1 (20-25, 25-17, 25-19, 25-18) comeback victory in front of two and a half thousand fans in the stands. Thus, last year’s regular season winners took seventh place now, on 42 and 15-11, while Indykpol occupied fifth place on 46 and 16-10. MVP and leading scorer of the match, outside Nicolas Szerszen, contributed 17 points to his team’s success.

PGE Projekt Warsaw secured the runner-up position with a 3-0 (25-21, 25-21, 25-19) sweep of their road game at InPost ChKS Chelm on Saturday. Last year’s bronze medalists finished the regular season on 54 and 19-7, while the PlusLiga rookies avoided relegation by taking the penultimate 13^th place on 23 and 7-19. Projekt’s opposite Bartosz Gomulka led the team with 18 points, including three aces and a block, and picked up the MVP award. His counterpart Jedrzej Goss top-scored 19 (two aces, two blocks) for Chelm.

On Saturday evening, in front of well over four thousand spectators, defending champions BOGDANKA LUK Lublin hammered out a 3-0 (25-14, 25-13, 25-21) shutout of second-division-bound Steam Hemarpol Politechnika Czestochowa and finished the regular season in third place on 53 and 18-8. Steam came in last, in 14^th place on 17 and 4-22, to face relegation. 22-year-old French outside Hilir Henno led BOGDANKA with a match-high 15 points and earned the MVP nomination.

The fourth place went to Asseco Resovia Rzeszow on 51 and 18-8. On Sunday, they mastered a 3-0 (25-22, 25-21, 25-20) sweep of their home game against Slepsk Malow Suwalki, who took 10^th place on 28 and 8-18. In his two sets on the court, sub-in opposite Jakub Bucki put away a team-high 10 points, including three aces and a block, for the winners and deserved the MVP recognition. Bulgarian outside Asparuh Asparuhov was the best scorer of the match with 13 points for Slepsk Malow.

PGE GiEK SKRA Belchatow closed the weekend with a 3-1 (25-27, 25-17, 25-19, 25-22) home win over Cuprum Stilon Gorzow Wielkopolski to reserve the sixth place in the final regular season table on 44 and 15-11, leaving their visitors in 12^th on 24 and 7-19. Brazilian opposite Alan Souza led the way with 23 points, including four blocks and an ace, while 22-year-old middle blocker Mateusz Nowak took the MVP prize, after registering an 80% success rate in attack and scoring three kill blocks and an ace towards a 12-point tally.

Before Monday’s last match of the regular season, Ukraine’s Barkom Kazhany Lviv are in 11^th place on 24 and 8-17, Energa Trefl Gdansk stand ninth on 36 and 13-12, and the outcome of the game cannot move either team up or down the final standings.

PlusLiga 2025-2026 upcoming matches:
Mar 23, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): Barkom Kazhany Lviv v Energa Trefl Gdansk
Mar 27, 20:00 local (19:00 UTC): PGE Projekt Warsaw v JSW Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj
Mar 28, 14:45 local (13:45 UTC): Asseco Resovia Rzeszow v Indykpol AZS Olsztyn
Mar 28, 20:00 local (19:00 UTC): BOGDANKA LUK Lublin v PGE GiEK SKRA Belchatow
Mar 29, 14:45 local (13:45 UTC): Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie v ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle

PlusLiga 2025-2026 schedule and results

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