Budowlani win first title in five years with Polish Cup victory

PGE Budowlani Łódź lifted their first trophy in five years on Sunday, when they triumphed in the 2026 Tauron Polish Cup.

The team from Łódź faced BKS BOSTIK ZGO Bielsko-Biała in the tournament's final and dominated from start to finish, winning 3-0 (25-13, 25-22, 25-13) in Elbląg.

• Watch the Tauron Polish Cup Final Four replays on VBTV

The victory secured Budowlani their third Polish Cup title, following previous successful campaigns in 2010 and 2018. It also marked their first title since the 2020-2021 season, when they were the winners of the Polish Supercup.

"This is the first title in my career, and I'm very happy to have won it with a team that I'm so proud of," team captain and setter Alicja Grabkar reacted. "We did a really good job of making this happen, each one of us. Winning the final today was very hard. We were drained after yesterday's semifinal, but I thought we did very well in avoiding errors, and that was critical."

The team from Łódź counted on two of their international stars to overcome Bielsko-Biała in the decisive match on Sunday, as Slovenian middle blocker Saša Planinšec and Swiss opposite Maja Storck each registered 13 points in the final, with Planinšec earning the match's MVP award.

"We had two tough weeks coming into the Final Four, but on Friday, during training, I had the feeling that the team was ready," Storck commented. "We played our hearts out in the semifinal, but we knew that it wasn't over, and came back very focused today. I'm very proud of the entire team."

Bielsko-Biała, who were playing to get to their tenth Polish Cup title, which would tie LOTTO Chemik Police's record in the tournament, had outside hitter Klaudia Nowakowska delivering eight points off the bench, one more than middle blocker Aleksandra Gryka.

"They were better than us in every aspect of the game and clearly dominated," head coach Bartłomiej Piekarczyk analyzed. "We couldn't really fight back, and they deserve all the credit because they have a very good team and earned this victory."

Budowlani also dominated the event's individual awards, which had Storck as the Most Valuable Player and Best Attacker, captain Grabka as the Best Setter, outside hitter Paulina Damaske as the Best Receiver and Justyna Łysiak as the best libero. Bielsko-Biała's Gryka was picked as the Best Middle Blocker.

The two finalists will return to the Tauron Liga on Wednesday, playing postponed matches. The sixth leg of the second round of the regular season will begin on Saturday.

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