Kovalov powers Ukraine’s Barkom to stunning first win in Poland

Ukraine’s Barkom Kazhany Lviv, the only foreign team competing in the Polish PlusLiga, achieved a stunning away shutout of trending Steam Hemarpol Norwid Czestochowa to register their first win of the season and push themselves up from the bottom of the current standings. It was not the only surprising result among the seven seventh-leg matches played over the weekend.

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Ukrainian international Illia Kovalov headlined Barkom’s efforts towards the 3-0 (25-22, 31-29, 25-21) shocker in the leg’s closing match on Sunday evening. The outside hitter and team captain fired 14 points at an impressive 78% success rate in attack, aced three times and raised one kill block to finish with a match-high 18 points. In addition, he showed 59% good reception towards a well-earned Most Valuable Player (MVP) recognition. Barkom’s Norwegian middle blocker Rune Fasteland tallied as many as five stuffs and five kills in offence at an 83% success rate to finish with 10 points. These were Barkom’s first three classification points since the start of the season, enough to rise two positions up from the bottom, to 14^th place on a 1-6 win-loss record and a better set ratio than 15^th-placed Indykpol AZS Olsztyn and 16^th-placed GKS Katowice.

Steam Hemarpol Norwid Czestochowa, who made headlines with some big upsets of their own earlier this season, were led by Iranian captain Milad Ebadipour with 17 points, including three kill blocks and an ace. Czech opposite Patrik Indra also reached the double digits with 12 points. Norwid still hang on to the edge of the playoff zone, in eighth place on 10 points and 4-3 win-loss record.

Earlier on Sunday, PSG Stal Nysa also achieved a surprising away victory. They produced a 3-1 (22-25, 25-21, 25-16, 25-21) comeback win over Trefl Gdansk to improve to 7 and 2-4 and ascend to 12^th place, with a game in hand. Trefl are one position and one point higher on 2-5. Outside Michal Gierzot was the man of the match, spearheading Stal with 28 points, including two aces and one kill block.

Powerhouse ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle suffered their third loss since the start of the season. Their hosts Slepsk Malow Suwalki edged them in a 3-2 (25-21, 16-25, 25-22, 20-25, 15-13) five-setter with outside Pawel Halaba leading the way with 16 points. His ZAKSA counterpart Rafal Szymura was the best scorer of the match with 19 points, including three aces and two blocks. Now on 14 and 4-3, ZAKSA are in sixth place, while Slepsk are ninth on 8 and 3-4.

Defending champions Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj produced a 3-1 (27-29, 25-21, 25-15, 25-21) victory over Cuprum Stilon Gorzow Wielkopolski on the road to stay close to the leaders, in third place on 19 and 6-1. Opposite Lukasz Kaczmarek (six kill blocks) and outside Tomasz Fornal led the winners with 17 points apiece, while Cuprum’s Brazilian opposite Chizoba Neves delivered a match-high 20 points. The team from Gorzow Wielkopolski are seventh in the table on 10 and 4-3.

Also on 19 points, but in second place on a 7-0 win-loss record, BOGDANKA LUK Lublin are still the only unbeaten team in the league. Above them in the table are only PGE Projekt Warsaw with 20 points, but from eight matches played. Lublin mastered a 3-0 (25-23, 25-20, 25-16) shutout of their hosts GKS Katowice and pushed the opponents down to the bottom of the standings on 3 and 1-7. Cuban-born star Wilfredo Leon was the winners’ leading scorer with 14 points, while GKS’s Ukrainian outside Yevhenii Kisiliuk was the top scorer of the match with 15.

Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie produced a 3-1 (22-25, 25-20, 25-22, 25-22) comeback at home against Indykpol AZS Olsztyn, with a 21-point match high from American international Aaron Russell to improve to 15 and 5-2 and climb one spot to fourth place.

PGE GiEK SKRA Belchatow also ascended one spot up to fifth place on 14 and 5-2 after a four-set comeback victory at home. Iranian opposite Amin Esmaeilnezhad was the best scorer in their 3-1 (23-25, 25-19, 25-19, 25-21) win over Nowak-Mosty MKS Bedzin with 24 points. Nowak-Mosty are in 13^th place on 7 and 2-5.

Next on the PlusLiga programme are four eighth-leg matches to be played on Tuesday and Wednesday, October 22 and 23.

PlusLiga 2024-2025 - upcoming 8th-leg matches:
Oct 22, 17:30 local (15:30 UTC): Asseco Resovia Rzeszow v Steam Hemarpol Norwid Czestochowa
Oct 22, 20:30 local (18:30 UTC): Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie v Cuprum Stilon Gorzow Wielkopolski
Oct 23, 17:30 local (15:30 UTC): Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj v Trefl Gdansk
Oct 23, 20:30 local (18:30 UTC): BOGDANKA LUK Lublin v ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle

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