ZAKSA’s American libero Eric Shoji (photo: 058SPORT / plusliga.pl)

ZAKSA’s American libero Eric Shoji (photo: 058SPORT / plusliga.pl)

Two matches, postponed from previous legs of the Polish PlusLiga’s regular season, will be played this week, on October 8 and 9, and streamed live on VBTV. ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle host Steam Hemarpol Norwid Czestochowa on Tuesday, while Nowak-Mosty MKS Bedzin welcome Indykpol AZS Olsztyn on Wednesday. Both games start at 20:30 local time (18:30 UTC).

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After losing their season opener to PGE Projekt Warsaw, ZAKSA bounced back with two wins in a row, over Indykpol and over Trefl Gdansk. With two games in hand, American star libero Eric Shoji and his teammates are now seventh in the current standings on 6 points and a 2-1 win-loss record.

Similarly, Norwid started with a loss to Slepsk Malow Suwalki, but then Iranian captain Milad Ebadipour and the rest of the squad from Czestochowa recovered with victories over Nowak-Mosty MKS Bedzin and defending champions Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj to collect 5 points and, also on a 2-1 record, to occupy the 10th place.

In Norwid’s rookie PlusLiga season, 2023-2024, the two teams exchanged away victories. Last November, the squad from Czestochowa surprised mighty ZAKSA in their house with a 3-1 upset, but on the road in March, the team from Kedzierzyn-Kozle got back at Norwid with an emphatic shutout. This head-to-head balance will be tilted one way or another on Tuesday evening, when the two teams meet in a postponed second-leg fixture.

In a way, the two opponents in Wednesday’s fourth-leg game between Nowak-Mosty and Indykpol are trending in opposite directions. The newly promoted team from Bedzin started the season with a win, but followed up with three losses in a row, while the squad from Olsztyn started with three defeats, but eventually celebrated their first victory over the weekend.

Each of the two teams is on 3 points and a 1-3 win-loss record, but Indykpol are in 12th place with better set ratio than that of 14th-placed Nowak-Mosty. The two clubs had 14 PlusLiga encounters during Nowak-Mosty’s first period in Poland’s elite division. Indykpol won 10 of those meetings.

“After our win, we will definitely train better. I hope that from now on it will only get better.” Szymon Jakubiszak, middle blocker of Indykpol AZS Olsztyn

PlusLiga 2024-2025 - upcoming midweek matches:
Oct 8, 20:30 local (18:30 UTC): ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle v Steam Hemarpol Norwid Czestochowa
Oct 9, 20:30 local (18:30 UTC): Nowak-Mosty MKS Bedzin v Indykpol AZS Olsztyn