Steam lose to SKRA and dash all hopes of survival

PGE GiEK SKRA Belchatow swept their men’s volleyball PlusLiga match at Steam Hemarpol Politechnika Czestochowa on Wednesday evening and definitively stamped their hosts’ ticket to Poland’s second division for next season, while edging ahead in the four-way race for the three remaining vacancies in the upcoming PlusLiga playoffs.

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In what proved to be their last home game in the PlusLiga for the time being, Steam Hemarpol Politechnika Czestochowa put up a tough fight against their strong visitors, pushing two of the sets into overtime, but failed to win any of them as PGE GiEK SKRA Belchatow managed to get the job done in three, 3-0 (32-30, 27-25, 25-21).

Steam needed to win this match to save at least some mathematical hope of survival, but following this result, they are sure to face relegation at the end of this season. They are stuck at the bottom of the current standings, in 14^th place on 16 points and a 4-20 win-loss record, and will remain in that position through the end of the regular season. This also means that the three teams above them in the table – InPost ChKS Chelm, Barkom Kazhany Lviv, Cuprum Stilon Gorzow Wielkopolski – are now completely safe and can breathe more easily through the end of the season.

SKRA, on the other hand, improved to 38 and 13-10 and climbed to sixth place, surpassing JSW Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj by two points. With three games to go, the team from Belchatow is now five points clear of the cut-off line for the playoffs.

Three players reached the double digits on SKRA’s side – Moroccan outside hitter Zouheir El-Graoui with 15 points (three kill blocks), Brazilian opposite Alan Souza with 15 (four blocks, two aces) and middle blocker Bartlomiej Lemanski with 10 (one block, one ace). The match’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) award went to the other middle of the team – 22-year-old Mateusz Nowak – who spiked at an 88% success rate and fired two aces to finish with a total of nine points. The home team’s Czech opposite Patrik Indra was the best scorer of the game with 18 points (three aces, two blocks) under his belt.

Next on the PlusLiga program is the 26^th leg to be played from Friday, March 13, to Monday, March 16.

PlusLiga 2025-2026 26^th leg:
Mar 13, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): InPost ChKS Chelm v ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle
Mar 13, 20:00 local (19:00 UTC): BOGDANKA LUK Lublin v Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie
Mar 14, 14:45 local (13:45 UTC): JSW Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj v Cuprum Stilon Gorzow Wielkopolski
Mar 14, 20:00 local (19:00 UTC): Energa Trefl Gdansk v Steam Hemarpol Politechnika Czestochowa
Mar 15, 14:45 local (13:45 UTC): PGE GiEK SKRA Belchatow v PGE Projekt Warsaw
Mar 15, 20:00 local (19:00 UTC): Barkom Kazhany Lviv v Slepsk Malow Suwalki
Mar 16, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): Asseco Resovia Rzeszow v Indykpol AZS Olsztyn

PlusLiga 2025-2026 schedule and results

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