Indykpol reverse-sweep game with ZAKSA in one of four five-setters in PlusLiga “weekend”

As many as four of the seven ninth-leg matches in the men’s volleyball PlusLiga in Poland were forced to five sets. In the most dramatic one, Indykpol AZS Olsztyn battled their way back from two sets down to celebrate a reverse sweep of their home game against ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle.

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On Sunday evening, German outside Moritz Karlitzek and Czech opposite Jan Hadrava contributed 24 and 23 points, respectively, towards Indykpol AZS Olsztyn’s 3-2 (20-25, 20-25, 25-21, 25-14, 15-13) comeback victory over ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle. The winners’ sub-in middle blocker Pawel Cieslik, who entered the match from the start of the second set, raised six kill blocks, fired an ace and spiked at a 70% success rate towards a 14-point tally to earn the Most Valuable Player (MVP) honors. ZAKSA’s Luxembourgish-Italian opposite Kamil Rychlicki emerged as the best scorer of the match with 26 points, including two aces and two kill blocks. With 10 matches already played, the team from Olsztyn remained second in the current standings on 22 points and a 7-3 win-loss record, two points short of table leaders Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie, who have, however, already played 11 games. ZAKSA stand just below the cut-off for the playoffs, in ninth place on 11 and 3-5, with a game in hand.

Earlier on Sunday, Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie stumbled in a five-setter at Energa Trefl Gdansk, but kept their leading position in the table on 24 and 8-3. Trefl also stayed in their seventh place, now on 12 and 5-3. In a rollercoaster match, the home team claimed a 3-2 (25-16, 25-27, 25-23, 17-25, 15-9) victory over last season’s silver medalists on the wings of a match-high 30 points, including two aces and two blocks, from 22-year-old opposite and match MVP Aliaksei Nasevich.

In another high-profile match of the ninth leg, on Saturday, Asseco Resovia Rzeszow put an end to PGE GiEK SKRA Belchatow’s six-game winning streak with an emphatic 3-0 (25-16, 25-22, 25-14) sweep. Resovia stayed put in their sixth place, now on 17 and 6-2, while SKRA fell two spots to fifth place on 18 and 6-2. The MVP award went to Resovia’s Slovenian outside Klemen Cebulj, who led the way in scoring with two aces and a 62% success rate in attack towards a match-high 17 points.

In Monday’s closing match of the ninth leg, JSW Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj struggled at home against Steam Hemarpol Politechnika Czestochowa, but managed to emerge with a 3-2 (20-25, 25-22, 26-24, 19-25, 15-12) win. The MVP recognition was for their outside Michal Gierzot, who fired three aces towards a team-high 21 points to match the total tally of opposite Lukasz Kaczmarek. Steam’s outside Bartlomiej Lipinski also produced three aces and topped the match chart with a total of 24 points. Jastrzebski Wegiel stayed in eighth place, now on 12 and 5-4, while the squad from Czestochowa pushed away from the bottom of the table and is now in 12^th place on 5 and 1-8, surpassing Slepsk Malow Suwalki and Cuprum Stilon Gorzow Wielkopolski, who suffered straight-set defeats at home.

Defending champions BOGDANKA LUK Lublin hammered out a 3-0 (25-21, 25-18, 25-19) shutout of Slepsk Malow Suwalki to push them down to the bottom, in 14^th place on 4 and 1-7, but with a game in hand. Outside Wilfredo Leon and opposite Kewin Sasak led Lublin’s scorers with 14 points apiece, while setter Marcin Komenda claimed the MVP award. Slepsk Malow’s opposite Bartosz Filipiak was the most prolific player of the match with 16 points. The champions rose to fourth place on 19 and 6-3.

Last season’s bronze medalists PGE Projekt Warsaw are just above them, in third on 19 and 7-2, after a 3-0 (28-26, 25-23, 25-19) sweep of their road game at Cuprum Stilon Gorzow Wielkopolski, who went down to second from the bottom, 13^th place on 5 and 1-8. With two aces, two kill blocks and a 78% success rate in attack, Projekt’s middle blocker Jakub Kochanowski earned the MVP award. He finished on a total of 11 points, while the team’s most prolific scorer of the match, outside Bartosz Bednorz, put away 14 points. Cuprum Stilon’s 20-year-old French outside Mathis Henno was above all with 17 points.

Friday’s leg opener offered a five-set battle between table neighbors InPost ChKS Chelm and Barkom Kazhany Lviv. They kept their positions in the table after the Ukrainian visitors put together a 3-2 (19-25, 25-23, 23-25, 25-23, 15-19) victory to improve to 9 and 3-5 in 10^th place and leave the PlusLiga rookies in 11^th on 6 and 2-6. The match MVP, opposite Vasyl Tupchii, led the winners with 25 points, including two aces and two blocks, while the home team’s Iranian outside Amirhossein Esfandiar was the best scorer of the game with 27 points.

Next, the PlusLiga program will offer some midweek matches from the fourth, the fifth and the eighth legs – two on Tuesday, two on Wednesday and one on Thursday, before the 10^th leg serves off on Friday.

PlusLiga 2025-2026 upcoming matches:
Dec 02, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): InPost ChKS Chelm v Asseco Resovia Rzeszow
Dec 02, 20:00 local (19:00 UTC): Barkom Kazhany Lviv v Cuprum Stilon Gorzow Wielkopolski
Dec 03, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): BOGDANKA LUK Lublin v Energa Trefl Gdansk
Dec 03, 20:00 local (19:00 UTC): PGE GiEK SKRA Belchatow v Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie
Dec 04, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle v Slepsk Malow Suwalki

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