Mielec upset Commercecon in the first match of the playoffs

The 2024-2025 Polish Women’s Tauron Liga playoffs started with a major upset as, in the very first match of the postseason, ITA TOOLS STAL Mielec, the last team to secure a spot in the quarterfinals, defeated second-placed ŁKS Commercecon Łódź on the road on Thursday.

The other opening matches of the best-of-three quarterfinal series started with the higher-seeded teams - KS DevelopRes Rzeszów, PGE Grot Budowlani Łódź and BKS BOSTIK ZGO Bielsko-Biała – making use of their homecourt advantage to start ahead.

• Watch the Polish Tauron Liga playoffs live on VBTV

Despite playing on the road, Mielec delivered a strong performance to surprise Commercecon in Łódź and secured a huge 3-1 (25-23, 25-22, 18-25, 27-29) victory to start their first playoff appearance since 2010-2011 on the right foot. It was also their first-ever win over Commercecon, which happened in the fifth encounter between the teams.

The top scorer of the Polish League regular season, opposite Oliwia Sieradzka had a tremendous performance, registering a match-high 29 points (22 kills, four aces, three blocks) for Mielec and received the match’s MVP award. Outside hitters Aleksandra Kazała, with 19, and Emilia Mucha, with 16, were other standouts in the team’s historic victory.

“The girls played with great courage and were very brave,” head coach Miłosz Majka. “We knew this was the only way we could compete with them. Each of our players contributed to this victory. We managed to stay calm in the key moments and that was decisive.”

Polish national team outside hitter Zuzanna Górecka and Ukrainian opposite Anastasiia Hryshchuk produced 21 points each for Commercecon.

The second match of the series will be held on Thursday, at 17:30 local time (16:30 GMT), in Mielec, and if the home team win again, they will advance to the Polish League semifinals for the first time since 2003-2004.

Home teams prevail in the other duels

The other three quarterfinal duels had the home teams on the winning side. Also on Thursday, Bielsko-Biała downed MOYA Radomka Radom 3-1 (25-27, 25-20, 25-22, 25-22), repeating the score of the regular-season match between the teams held exactly one week before. Julita Piasecka and Kertu Laak carried the team’s offense as while the 22-year-old outside hitter scored 27 points, the Estonian opposite added another 20.

On Friday, Budowlani secured a comfortable 3-0 (25-21, 25-18, 25-8) victory over Metalkas Pałac Bydgoszcz to start the series on the right foot. Italian opposite Terry Enweonwu was the match's MVP and led the team with 16 points, two more than outside hitter Paulina Damaske.

The last match of the opening round of the quarterfinals was held on Saturday and had DevelopRes topping LOTTO Chemik Police 3-1 (25-16, 24-26, 25-22, 25-22). Sabrina Machado, Agnieszka Korneluk and Monika Fedusio combined for 55 points, with the Brazilian opposite delivering 20, the Polish national team star middle blocker adding 18 and the outside hitter, who earned the match's MVP award, tallying another 17.

Bielsko-Biała and Radomka will meet again on Monday, at 20:30 (19:30 GMT), with Budowlani and Pałac dueling on Wednesday, at 17:30 (16:30 GMT), and DevelopRes and Chemik battling on the same day, three hours later.

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