Six aces from Leon help keep Lublin undefeated

BOGDANKA LUK Lublin, the only undefeated team since the start of the Polish PlusLiga season, continued to be undefeated after the completion of the sixth leg of regular season matches, played from Friday to Monday. Fueled by a brilliant Wilfredo Leon with as many as six aces within a match-high 23 points, they produced their sixth win in a row in a four-setter against Slepsk Malow Suwalki on Sunday.

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After 22-20 in the fourth set, the Cuban-born outside hitter scored in attack and then finished the match off with two aces in a row for a 3-1 (25-18, 25-20, 24-26, 25-20) victory in front of over 4,100 spectators on the stands at HSW Globus. Leon piled up as many as six aces and raised two kill blocks towards a 23-point total, which made him the best scorer of the game. Opposite Kewin Sasak put away 20 points, including three blocks and an ace, and was named Most Valuable Player of the match. Dutch outside Bennie Tuinstra finished with 16 points for Lublin, who improved to 16 points and a 6-0 win-loss record and stand second only to PGE Projekt Warsaw, who also have six wins, but from seven matches played. With 21 points, opposite Bartosz Filipiak was the leading scorer for Slepsk Malow, who are in 12^th place on 6 and 2-4.

The PlusLiga “weekend” finished on Monday with an exciting five-setter, in which Trefl Gdansk came back from a set down against their hosts Nowak-Mosty MKS Bedzin twice before celebrating a 3-2 (23-25, 25-21, 22-25, 25-18, 15-10) victory. This was the first time this season Trefl win a tie-breaker set after failing at their previous three attempts. They are now in eighth place on 8 and 2-4. Their opposite Jakub Jarosz earned the match top scorer and MVP honours with 27 points to his name, including three aces. Outside Piotr Orczyk added another 21 points towards the victory, while opposite Damian Schulz was Nowak-Mosty’s best scorer with 26 points. His team is eleventh in the current standings on 7 and 2-4.

An away five-set win was also produced in Sunday’s late game. Cuprum Stilon Gorzow also came back from a set down twice in the match before achieving a 3-2 (19-25, 25-14, 22-25, 25-23, 15-13) victory at PSG Stal Nysa. The winners were led by Estonian sub-in Robert Taht, who claimed the MVP award, and Brazilian opposite Chizoba Neves with 21 points apiece, while Stal’s outside Michal Gierzot delivered the match high of 22 points. Cuprum kept their sixth place, now on 10 and 4-1, and a game in hand. Stal are 13^th on 4 and 1-3, and two games in hand.

Table leaders PGE Projekt Warsaw gave a set to winless, pointless and bottom-placed Barkom Kazhany Lviv of Ukraine upon their visit to Tarnow, but took home the three points with a 3-1 (18-25, 25-18, 25-20, 25-18) win on a 21-point match high from German opposite Linus Weber and improved to 18 and 6-1.

Defending champions Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj are third on 16 and 5-1 after their 3-0 (25-21, 25-15, 25-19) shutout of Indykpol AZS Olsztyn. Opposite Lukasz Kaczmarek was the best scorer of the match with 18 points towards the home team’s success.

National cup and national super cup holders Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie did not allow Steam Hemarpol Norwid Czestochowa another surprising upset and overcame the opponents in straight sets, 3-0 (25-21, 30-28, 25-15), to climb to fourth place on 12 and 4-2. Opposite Karol Butryn led the way with 23 points, while the MVP award went to Portuguese setter Miguel Tavares. The loss pushed the team from Czestochowa down below the playoff zone, in ninth place on 7 and 3-2, and a game in hand.

PGE GiEK SKRA Belchatow dropped to fifth place on 11 and 4-2 after a 3-1 (25-20, 25-18, 29-31, 25-22) loss to ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle on the road, a result that also lifted ZAKSA to seventh place on 10 and 3-2 (and a game in hand). Belgian outside Igor Grobelny led the winners with 20 points and took the MVP prize, while SKRA’s Iranian opposite Amin Esmaeilnezhad hammered out a 27-point match high.

In the sixth-leg opening match on Friday, Asseco Resovia Rzeszow took a hard-fought 3-1 (28-30, 25-23, 25-21, 25-23) home win over GKS Katowice, with outside Bartosz Bednorz topping the charts with 23 points. With this victory, Resovia ascended two spots to 10^th place on 7 and 2-3 (and a game in hand).

“We are happy with the victory and that we fought all the time in this match, despite our problems,” Resovia’s French opposite Stephen Boyer said in a plusliga.pl interview. “It is known that we have been going through a difficult period recently in terms of our game, our results and our self-confidence. The most important thing is that despite all these difficulties, we do not give up. We really wanted to win and the biggest positive from the match with GKS is that we fought until the end and we won. Now all we have to do is continue working together.”

Next on the PlusLiga programme are three midweek matches on Tuesday and Wednesday, October 15 and 16.

PlusLiga 2024-2025 - upcoming midweek matches:
Oct 15, 17:30 local (15:30 UTC): ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle v Cuprum Stilon Gorzow
Oct 16, 17:30 local (15:30 UTC): PSG Stal Nysa v Steam Hemarpol Norwid Czestochowa
Oct 16, 20:30 local (18:30 UTC): PGE Projekt Warsaw v Asseco Resovia Rzeszow

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