ZAKSA stun Aluron in nail-biting reverse sweep deep into tie-breaker overtime!

The last game of the first leg in the best-of-three quarterfinal playoffs in the men’s volleyball PlusLiga in Poland offered a nail-biting five-setter, in which visitors ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle completed a stunning reverse sweep against regular season winners Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie deep into the overtime of the tie-breaker on Sunday. The other three home favorites – PGE Projekt Warsaw, BOGDANKA LUK Lublin and Asseco Resovia Rzeszow – all swept their opening playoff matches in straight sets over JSW Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj, PGE GiEK SKRA Belchatow and Indykpol AZS Olsztyn, respectively, to edge ahead in their series.

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ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle, who finished the regular season in eighth place, mounted a furious comeback from two sets down at heavy favorites Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie to squeeze out a shocking 3-2 (22-25, 22-25, 25-18, 25-20, 22-20) away victory before hosting the second match at home a week from Monday. The home team were first to reach a double match point at 14-12 in the fifth set, but ZAKSA denied it to push the tie-breaker deep beyond the 15^th point before outside hitter Jakub Szymanski shaped up the win with a perfectly placed ace, his sixth serving point of the match. He also scored four kill blocks and finished with 19 points, while Italian international opposite Kamil Rychlicki topped the scorer chart with 27, including three aces and three stuffs, and picked up the Most Valuable Player (MVP) nomination.

The first leg of the quarterfinals opened on Friday with a remake of last season’s third-place playoff. In front of 3,150 spectators in the Polish capital, bronze medalists PGE Projekt Warsaw hammered out a merciless 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-19) shutout of their visitors JSW Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj. Outside hitter Bartosz Bednorz was the best scorer of the match with 19 points and earned the MVP award. He put away four kill blocks and two aces and spiked at a 68% success rate in attack.

In the first of two matches on Saturday, Asseco Resovia Rzeszow produced an emphatic 3-0 (25-18, 25-19, 25-20) home win over Indykpol AZS Olsztyn. 2,900 fans in the stands saw French outside Yacine Louati fire six aces and raise four kill blocks towards a match-high 18 points, claiming the MVP recognition.

Later on Saturday, a home crowd of over 4,100 cheered on as defending champions BOGDANKA LUK Lublin also got their job done in straight sets, 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-22), over their guests from PGE GiEK SKRA Belchatow. BOGDANKA’s outside Wilfredo Leon and SKRA’s Brazilian opposite Alan Souza shared the top scorer honors with 13 points each, while the MVP honors went to the winners’ setter Marcin Komenda.

The second leg of the best-of-three quarterfinal playoffs will be played on April 4 and 6.

PlusLiga 2025-2026 quarterfinal playoffs, 2nd leg:
Apr 04, 14:45 local (12:45 UTC): Indykpol AZS Olsztyn v Asseco Resovia Rzeszow
Apr 04, 17:30 local (15:30 UTC): JSW Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj v PGE Projekt Warsaw
Apr 04, 20:00 local (18:00 UTC): PGE GiEK SKRA Belchatow v BOGDANKA LUK Lublin
Apr 06, 17:30 local (15:30 UTC): ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle v Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie

PlusLiga 2025-2026 schedule and results

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