Kwolek and Butryn shine for Aluron in weekend’s PlusLiga highlight

Fourth-placed Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie beat fifth-placed ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle in the big match of the 12^th leg in Poland’s PlusLiga and the gap between the top four and the next teams in the current standings widened to five points. ZAKSA dropped to sixth place, overtaken by Steam Hemarpol Norwid Czestochowa, who extended their winning streak in the PlusLiga to five matches in a row.

• Watch the PlusLiga on VBTV.

Opposite Karol Butryn scored a match-high 20 points, including two aces and a kill block, towards Aluron’s 3-1 (25-20, 25-22, 20-25, 25-22) home victory over ZAKSA on Saturday. Outside hitters Bartosz Kwolek and Aaron Russell added 17 and 15 points, respectively. With his impressive four aces and three kill blocks, Kwolek also earned the Most Valuable Player nomination. Middle blocker Karol Urbanowicz was ZAKSA’s most prolific player in the match with 13 points, including two aces and three kill blocks, while sub-in outside Jakub Szymanski excelled from the serving line with five direct points. Aluron improved to 28 points and a 9-3 win-loss record in fourth place. They have the same number of points as the two teams above them, but trail them on the number of wins. ZAKSA are now sixth on 23 and 7-5.

PlusLiga “Robin Hood” Norwid gave a point to Indykpol AZS Olsztyn, who are still struggling in the relegation zone, in 14^th place on 8 and 2-9. Norwid came back from a set down twice in their home game against Indykpol to claim a hard-fought 3-2 (22-25, 25-19, 26-28, 25-17, 16-14) victory, which was enough to climb to fifth place on 23 and 9-3. While Czech opposite Patrik Indra led the way with a match-high 29 points, the MVP award went to sub-in setter Tomasz Kowalski.

Defending champions and table leaders Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj registered a 3-1 (21-25, 25-14, 25-17, 25-18) home win over Nowak-Mosty MKS Bedzin to improve to 31 and 10-2, three points clear on the top of the standings. Nowak-Mosty are 12^th on 10 and 3-8. Jastrzebski’s French playmaker Benjamin Toniutti earned the MVP nomination, while outside Tomasz Fornal and his Nowak-Mosty counterpart Dominik Depowski shared the top-scorer honours with 16 points each.

PGE Projekt Warsaw and BOGDANKA LUK Lublin kept their second and third places, respectively, on 28 and 10-2 each after scoring straight-set victories. Led by opposite Bartlomiej Boladz, Projekt mastered a 3-0 (25-22, 25-20, 25-16) away win over Cuprum Stilon Gorzow Wielkopolski, who fell out of the playoff zone, to ninth place on 17 and 7-5. Lublin put together a 3-0 (25-21, 26-24, 25-22) shutout of PSG Stal Nysa at home. Opposite Kewin Sasak contributed 22 points to the victory to top the scorers’ chart of the match. Despite the loss, Stal kept their 13^th place just above the relegation zone, on 9 and 2-10.

Asseco Resovia Rzeszow climbed two spots to seventh place on 20 and 6-6, overtaking PGE GiEK SKRA Belchatow on the way, whom they shut out in a 3-0 (25-23, 25-20, 25-16) straight-setter at home. Slovenian outside Klemen Cebulj excelled with a 16-point match high. SKRA are down to eighth place on 19 and 7-5.

In the lower half of the table, 10^th-placed Trefl Gdansk achieved a 3-1 (26-24, 25-21, 21-25, 25-20) away victory over bottom-placed GKS Katowice to improve to 15 and 4-8. Outside Piotr Orczyk led the winners with 18 points. GKS are on 4 and 1-11 in 16^th place.

In Thursday’s leg opener, 11^th-placed Slepsk Malow Suwalki produced a 3-2 (25-20, 25-22, 23-25, 16-25, 15-8) win on the road at Ukraine’s Barkom Kazhany Lviv, who are second from the bottom, in 15^th place on 6 and 2-9. Slepsk improved to 13 and 5-6. Opposite Bartosz Filipiak spearheaded the visitors to the victory with 23 points.

The 13^th leg is set to take place from Friday, November 22, to Monday, November 25.

PlusLiga 2024-2025 13th leg:
Nov 22, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): Indykpol AZS Olsztyn v BOGDANKA LUK Lublin
Nov 23, 14:45 local (13:45 UTC): ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle v Barkom Kazhany Lviv
Nov 23, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): PGE GiEK SKRA Belchatow v GKS Katowice
Nov 24, 14:45 local (13:45 UTC): Slepsk Malow Suwalki v Asseco Resovia Rzeszow
Nov 24, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): Nowak-Mosty MKS Bedzin v Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie
Nov 24, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): PSG Stal Nysa v Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj
Nov 25, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): Trefl Gdansk v PGE Projekt Warsaw
Nov 25, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): Cuprum Stilon Gorzow Wielkopolski v Steam Hemarpol Norwid Czestochowa

Quick links:
VBTV
Volleyball World Facebook
Volleyball World X
Volleyball World Instagram
Volleyball World YouTube
Subscribe to Volleyball World's Newsletter