PlusLiga regular season heats up with penultimate leg starting on Friday

With all the playoff spots in the Polish PlusLiga now taken and two of the three relegation orders assigned, the matches of the remaining two legs of the regular season will be all about the final distribution of the quarterfinalists in the playoff bracket and, of course, finding out who the third relegated team will be. The remaining seven games of the penultimate 29^th leg are set to take place from Friday, March 14, to Monday, March 17.

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The main focus will fall on the two teams that are still under threat of relegation and on whether Ukraine’s Barkom Kazhany Lviv will be able to take advantage of their favorable schedule to make up for the five-set lag from PSG Stal Nysa, which puts them in the red zone for now. It is not entirely in their hands though…

PSG Stal Nysa could celebrate their salvation as soon as this Friday, if they manage to take a home win over heavy favorite Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie, who are running third in the current standings on 66 points and a 22-6 win-loss record. Stal stand just above the red line for relegation, in 13^th place on 25 and 7-21, and adding another two points to their record would make them unreachable for Barkom Kazhany. The game in Nysa starts at 20:30 local time (19:30 UTC).

As of right now, Barkom Kazhany Lviv are in a must-win situation as they visit Nowak-Mosty MKS Bedzin at the same time on Saturday. The Ukrainian team stands in 14^th place on 20 and 7-21, and if it manages to narrow the gap down to three or fewer points this weekend, it will have a realistic shot at survival when it hosts Stal on Thursday in their last regular season match. Nowak-Mosty are already doomed to relegation as they trail bottom on 13 and 3-25, but they certainly do not intend on going down without a fight.

Defending champions and table leaders Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj need just one point to secure pole position for the playoffs, as they stand six points clear at the top, on 72 and 23-5. In Friday’s opening match at 14:45 (13:45), they will welcome BOGDANKA LUK Lublin, who are in fourth place on 60 and 20-8. The 14th-leg game between BOGDANKA and Jastrzebski Wegiel in Lublin went 3-0 the visitors’ way. While unlikely to move up in the table, Lublin are mindful of being caught up by ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle, who are just two points behind them.

ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle, on the other hand, have a tough home game against the team just below them in the standings, Asseco Resovia Rzeszow. Before their meeting on Saturday at 17:30 (16:30), ZAKSA are fifth on 58 and 20-8, while Resovia are sixth on 54 and 17-11, and riding the wave of an impressive 14-game winning streak between the PlusLiga and the CEV Cup. November’s game between Resovia and ZAKSA in Rzeszow was pushed to five sets before the visitors could triumph deep into the overtime of the tie-breaker.

Another clash between future quarterfinalists will spark excitement on Sunday, when PGE GiEK SKRA Belchatow, seventh on 48 and 16-12, entertain PGE Projekt Warsaw, second on 66 and 24-4. The match starts at 17:30 (16:30). If these two teams keep these positions in the final regular season standings, they will meet again very soon, in one of the quarterfinal playoffs. When they met in November in Warsaw, Projekt squeezed out a tight 3-2 home win, also after an extended fifth set.

Steam Hemarpol Norwid Czestochowa, who have already achieved a historic success by qualifying for the playoffs, will travel to Trefl Gdansk in an attempt to eventually move up from the eighth place they are occupying on 43 and 15-3. Trefl are in 10^th place on 34 and 11-17. These two also put up a five-set battle in their first encounter this season, with Trefl celebrating an away victory. The leg’s closing game in Gdansk is scheduled at 17:30 (16:30) on Monday.

This weekend’s opening game, on Friday at 17:30 (16:30), will feature table neighbors Cuprum Stilon Gorzow Wielkopolski and Indykpol AZS Olsztyn. The hosts are in 12^th place on 28 and 11-17, while Indykpol are right above them, in 11^th place on 34 and 10-18.

PlusLiga 2024-2025 29th leg:
Mar 14, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): Cuprum Stilon Gorzow Wielkopolski v Indykpol AZS Olsztyn
Mar 14, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): PSG Stal Nysa v Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie
Mar 15, 14:45 local (13:45 UTC): Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj v BOGDANKA LUK Lublin
Mar 15, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle v Asseco Resovia Rzeszow
Mar 15, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): Nowak-Mosty MKS Bedzin v Barkom Kazhany Lviv
Mar 16, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): PGE GiEK SKRA Belchatow v PGE Projekt Warsaw
Mar 17, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): Trefl Gdansk v Steam Hemarpol Norwid Czestochowa

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