Separated by just one point, the Polish giants meet on Friday – watch live on VBTV
Published 08:00, 29 Jan 2025
DevelopRes and Budowlani are separated by just one point (Photo: Tauron Liga)
Friday will be one of the most anticipated days of the 2024-2025 Polish Women’s Tauron Liga season, with the two best teams in the league going against each other with the top spot in the standings on the line.
Separated by just one point, KS DevelopRes Rzeszów and PGE Grot Budowlani Łódź will meet at 17:30 local time (16:30 GMT), in the sixth leg of the second round of the regular season, and the winners will most likely be in a strong position to enter the playoffs as the top-seeded team.
The Tauron Liga leaders, DevelopRes have 42 points (15 wins, one loss) and could end the weekend as many as four points ahead of the second-placed side. Undefeated in their last seven matches, they overcame the inconsistency of the start of the season and collected all 21 points in play during their winning streak.
Some of the team’s individual standouts are Polish national team star middle blocker Agnieszka Korneluk, who ranks third in blocks (43) in the Tauron Liga, Brazilian opposite Sabrina Machado, the fifth-best scorer (232), outside hitter Monika Fedusio, fifth in aces (17), and libero Justyna Łysiak, second in passing efficiency (54.85%).
“I think the matches against Budowlani and Commercecon will be the most important for us,” Korneluk commented. “These matches will be decisive in terms of seeding before the start of the playoffs.”
The second-placed Budowlani are just one point behind DevelopRes with 41 and need to win 3-0 or 3-1 to take all three points and jump to first place – a 3-2 victory will keep their opponents ahead in the tie-breakers. They are undefeated in their last five matches, but played two tie-breakers in the period, dropping valuable points that could have them in first place already.
The team’s top scorer in the season is outside hitter Karolina Drużkowska, who registered 201 points so far in the season, 18 more than Italian opposite Terry Enweonwu. With 20 aces, setter Alicja Grabka appears in second place among the tournament’s top servers.
“We’ve been having a very good season,” said middle blocker Saša Planinšec. “We have a strong and well-balanced squad that can do a lot. We have many young, promising players, but also some experienced ones. I like this mix and I think we can achieve big things.”
Friday’s encounter will be the 27th between the teams and DevelopRes have been more successful, with 15 victories. They also won the last nine duels between the teams, including the one in the first round of the season, when a tie-breaker was needed to determine the winners.
Third-placed ŁKS Commercecon Łódź will be watching the match closely. With 40 points (13 wins, two losses), they are guaranteed to move up to second place if they take all three points in their Monday home match against UNI Opole, scheduled for 20:30 local time (19:30 GMT) – and could even end up in first place if Budowlani win 3-2.
The first match of the round will be held on Thursday, when MOYA Radomka Radom face Energa MKS Kalisz at 17:30 (16:30 GMT). Two more matches will be played on Saturday - BKS BOSTIK ZGO Bielsko-Biała vs. #VolleyWrocław at 12:30 (11:30 GMT) and Sokół & Hagric Mogilno vs. ITA TOOLS STAL Mielec at 19:00 (18:00 GMT).
Before the start of the round, on Wednesday, Bielsko-Biała will face defending champions LOTTO Chemik Police at 19:00 (18:00 GMT) in a postponed match of the fourth leg of the second round.
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