DevelopRes and Commercecon start ahead in the Tauron Liga semis

The best two teams in the 2024-2025 Polish Women’s Tauron Liga regular season, KS DevelopRes Rzeszów and ŁKS Commercecon Łódź began the semifinals on the right foot and got a head start over their opponents in the race for the two spots in the Polish League Finals.

The first round of both best-of-three semifinal series took place on Friday, when DevelopRes and Commercecon benefited from homecourt advantage to overcome BKS BOSTIK ZGO Bielsko-Biała and PGE Grot Budowlani Łódź, respectively, to claim the first of the two victories they need to advance to the Finals.

• Watch the Polish Tauron Liga playoffs live on VBTV

Regular season winners DevelopRes kept their playoff run clean at the start of the semifinals as, playing at home, in Rzeszów, they defeated reigning Polish Supercup winners Bielsko-Biała 3-1 (25-16, 25-17, 14-25, 25-17) to begin the series well.

Monika Fedusio and Agnieszka Korneluk had both extraordinary performances, with the team captain and outside hitter leading DevelopRes’ offensive efforts with a match-high 23 points (19 kills, three blocks, one ace) and the Polish national team star middle blocker adding an impressive 20, with 13 kills, six blocks and one ace, to take home the match’s MVP award.

“We wanted to start the series well in front of our fans and I’m glad we did it,” Korneluk remarked. “After the first two sets, they started taking more risks, especially on serving, and maybe we relaxed a little bit. But except for the third set, our game was great.”

Bielsko-Biała saw 22-year-old outside hitter Martyna Borowczak step up to match Fedusio’s production with 22 kills and one ace, while Estonian opposite Kertu Laak and outside hitter Julita Piasecka registered 14 and 13 points, respectively.

“We had problems with our passing during basically the entire match and it was very hard to overcome their blocking in that condition,” middle blocker Joanna Pacak explained. “We couldn’t find any solutions for that. We made some changes in the third set and our game improved, but they came back after that and showed their strength.”

The second match between the teams will be held on Tuesday, at 20:30 local time (19:30 GMT), this time at Bielsko-Biała’s stadium.

Commercecon win the Derby

After an inconsistent performance in the quarterfinals, when they needed all three matches to overcome ITA TOOLS STAL Mielec, Commercecon were in top form at the start of the semifinals, triumphing over Budowlani in the Łódź Derby with an emphatic 3-0 (25-17, 25-21, 29-27) victory.

The match’s MVP, setter Marlena Kowalewska had middle blocker Anna Obiała, who scored 13 points (ten kills, three blocks), and Slovenian outside hitter Lana Ščuka and middle blocker Klaudia Alagierska, who added 12 each, as her main offensive options.

“I’m very happy that we are playing better and better after having some struggles,” Kowalewska reacted. “We were able to rebuild our game and today we could see a very determined and focused team on the court. We practice to play well in matches like this and I’m happy that we’re very united right now.”

The match’s top scorer was Budowlani’s outside hitter Karolina Drużkowska, who registered 14 points (13 kills, one block), one more than Serbian veteran Jelena Blagojević.

“We need to improve on many areas for the next match, especially on offense,” head coach Maciej Biernat reflected. “Our efficiency was at around 25% and even with this, we still managed to stay ahead in the third set. But this is not our style and I’m confident that on Tuesday we’ll be a different team.”

The Łódź rivals will meet again on Tuesday, at 17:30 (16:30 GMT), this time having Budowlani as the home team.

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