Kochanowski shines in Projekt’s five-set win, reverse sweep brings Cuprum Stilon season’s first win

Two of the four midweek matches in the men’s volleyball PlusLiga in Poland were pushed to five sets. In one of them, star middle blocker Jakub Kochanowski spearheaded PGE Projekt Warsaw to victory over trending Indykpol AZS Olsztyn. In the other, Cuprum Stilon Gorzow Wielkopolski reverse-swept their road game at Steam Hemarpol Politechnika Czestochowa to celebrate their first win of the season, overtake the opponents and leave them at the bottom of the table. PGE GiEK SKRA Belchatow handed mighty JSW Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj their fourth defeat of the season, while Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie consolidated their position on top of the current standings with a home shutout of Ukraine’s Barkom Kazhany Lviv.

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Jakub Kochanowski spiked at a 68% success rate, fired four serving aces and raised three kill blocks towards a 22-point total tally in PGE Projekt Warsaw’s hard-fought 3-2 (30-28, 25-19, 23-25, 22-25, 15-9) home victory over Indykpol AZS Olsztyn on Wednesday. The middle blocker’s contribution earned him the match’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) honors. German opposite Linus Weber produced a match-high 26 points, including two aces and two blocks, while two of Indykpol’s players – German outside hitter Morits Karlitzek and Czech opposite Jan Hadrava – finished with 24 points apiece. Projekt climbed to fourth place on 16 points and a 6-2 win-loss record, while the team from Olsztyn is running second on 20 and 6-3.

The first place still belongs to Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie, who have, however, already played as many as 10 matches, because of their appearance at the FIVB Volleyball Men’s Club World Championship next month. After Tuesday’s 3-0 (25-20, 25-20, 25-22) home win over Barkom Kazhany Lviv, they improved to 23 and 8-2 and left the Ukrainian team in 10^th place on 7 and 2-5. While American outside Aaron Russell contributed a match-high 17 points towards the victory, the MVP award went to Portuguese setter Miguel Tavares, himself producing three aces and a spike kill during the match.

PGE GiEK SKRA Belchatow remained the team with the fewest losses since the start of the PlusLiga season. After Tuesday’s 3-1 (21-25, 25-22, 25-13, 25-21) home victory over JSW Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj, SKRA improved to 18 and 6-1 in third place. Jastrzebski Wegiel stand eighth on 10 and 4-4. 20-year-old Romanian outside Daniel Chitigoi put up an impressive seven of SKRA’s 16 kill blocks in the match. He added two aces and 17 attack points at a 61% success rate towards a match-high 26 points and a well-deserved MVP recognition.

A switch at the bottom of the table occurred after Cuprum Stilon Gorzow Wielkopolski claimed their first win of the season. In Wednesday’s duel between the last two teams in the standings, they produced a 3-2 (21-25, 21-25, 25-23, 25-18, 15-13) reverse sweep of their match at Steam Hemarpol Politechnika Czestochowa not only to surpass their opponents in this game, but also Slepsk Malow Suwalki, and rise to 12^th place on 5 and 1-7. Steam are now at the bottom, in 14^th place on 4 and 1-7, and a lower set ratio than Slepsk Malow, placed 13^th on 4 and 1-6, with a game in hand. Cuprum Stilon’s sub-in playmaker Mateusz Maciejewicz, who was among the starters for the last three sets and made a solid contribution to the turnaround, was named MVP. French outside Mathis Henno led the winners with 20 points, while Steam’s Czech opposite Patrik Indra led the home team with a match-high 27 points.

The remaining three games of the eighth leg will be played midweek next week, while next on the PlusLiga agenda are the seven matches of the ninth leg, to be played from Friday, November 28, to Monday, December 1.

PlusLiga 2025-2026 ninth-leg schedule:
Nov 28, 20:00 local (19:00 UTC): InPost ChKS Chelm v Barkom Kazhany Lviv
Nov 29, 14:45 local (13:45 UTC): Asseco Resovia Rzeszow v PGE GiEK SKRA Belchatow
Nov 29, 20:00 local (19:00 UTC): Slepsk Malow Suwalki v BOGDANKA LUK Lublin
Nov 30, 14:45 local (13:45 UTC): Cuprum Stilon Gorzow Wielkopolski v PGE Projekt Warsaw
Nov 30, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): Energa Trefl Gdansk v Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie
Nov 30, 20:00 local (19:00 UTC): Indykpol AZS Olsztyn v ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle
Dec 01, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): JSW Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj v Steam Hemarpol Politechnika Czestochowa

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