PlusLiga “weekend” ends with five-set spectacle

Cuprum Stilon Gorzow Wielkopolski and Steam Hemarpol Norwid Czestochowa rounded off the 13^th leg in Poland’s PlusLiga with a spectacular five-set battle on Monday evening that lasted well over two and a half hours in front of nearly two and a half thousand fans on the stands. The 13^th leg started on Friday evening with Indykpol AZS Olsztyn’s shocking shutout of stellar BOGDANKA LUK Lublin, and another six matches were played in between.

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159 minutes were needed to determine the winner between Cuprum Stilon Gorzow Wielkopolski and Steam Hemarpol Norwid Czestochowa at the Arena Gorzow. Finally, the home crowd was delighted by Cuprum’s 3-2 (21-25, 27-25, 25-16, 23-25, 15-10) victory. Estonian outside hitter Robert Taht led the winners with 18 points, including two aces and two blocks and claimed the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award. Norwid’s Czech opposite Patrik Indra was the top scorer of the match with 22 points. While Cuprum kept their ninth place in the current standings, now on 19 points and an 8-5 win-loss record, Norwid dropped down a spot, to sixth place on 24 and 9-4.

In the most surprising result of the “weekend”, Indykpol AZS Olsztyn produced a stunning 3-0 (25-19, 25-21, 30-28) sweep of their home game against BOGDANKA LUK Lublin, who only until recently were the undefeated leaders of the league. This victory pulled Indykpol out of the relegation zone and lifted them to 12^th place on 11 and 3-9, while Lublin gave up the third place and fell further down to fourth on 28 and 10-3. The winners’ outside Nicolas Szerszen led them with 16 points, including four aces, while the MVP award went to middle blocker Pawel Cieslik, who spiked at a 100% success rate to finish with 12 points. BOGDANKA’s star Wilfredo Leon produced a match-high 20 points, including four aces and two blocks.

On Tuesday, Indykpol will have another opportunity to add points towards their escape from the danger zone as they visit Ukraine’s Barkom Kazhany Lviv, who are below them in the standings, in a postponed eighth-leg game, starting at 17:30 local time (16:30 UTC).

Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie were the team that surpassed Lublin into the third place after managing a 3-0 (25-21, 25-23, 25-19) sweep of their match at Nowak-Mosty MKS Bedzin and improving to 31 and 10-3. Meanwhile, Nowak-Mosty were one of the two teams surpassed by Indykpol and fell to 13^th place on 10 and 3-9. They are also with a game in hand as they have their postponed home match against Slepsk Malow Suwalki of the eighth leg coming up on Wednesday at 17:30 (16:30). Opposite Karol Butryn and American outside Aaron Russell led Aluron against Nowak-Mosty with 14 points each, with the former firing three aces and earning the MVP nomination. Also with three aces, Canadian outside Brandon Koppers was the best scorer of the match on a total of 16 points for the home team.

On the other hand, ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle were the team that overtook Norwid into the fifth place after a 3-1 (25-18, 24-26, 25-14, 25-17) home win over Barkom Kazhany Lviv. ZAKSA’s star opposite Bartosz Kurek was among the starters for all four sets and delivered a match-high 21 points. The Kedzierzyn-Kozle powerhouse improved to 26 and 8-5, while Barkom are still second from the bottom, in 15^th place on 6 and 2-10.

Right above them in the table, on 9 and 2-11, PSG Stal Nysa are the new member of the relegation zone after being shut out at home by table leaders Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj. The defending champions produced a 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-22) sweep, with French outside Timothee Carle leading the way with 16 points, and moved up to 34 and 11-2.

Second-placed PGE Projekt Warsaw also celebrated a win on the road to stay close behind on 31 and 11-2. They achieved a 3-1 (23-25, 25-18, 25-20, 25-21) comeback victory over Trefl Gdansk, who dropped to 11^th place on 15 and 4-9. Opposite Bartlomiej Boladz spearheaded Projekt with a match-high 20 points, while middle Andrzej Wrona earned the MVP recognition with five kill blocks towards a 15-point tally.

In a rollercoaster five-setter, Slepsk Malow Suwalki claimed a narrow 3-2 (21-25, 25-13, 19-25, 25-18, 16-14) home victory over Asseco Resovia Rzeszow and jumped over Trefl in the table to take 10^th place on 15 and 6-6, and a game in hand. Brazilian outside Henrique Honorato topped the charts with 22 points, including four aces and two blocks, for the winners and earned the MVP award.

Resovia fell to eighth place on 21 and 6-7, surpassed by PGE GiEK SKRA Belchatow into the seventh on 22 and 8-5. SKRA achieved a 3-1 (25-20, 26-24, 22-25, 25-22) home win over bottom-placed GKS Katowice. Iranian opposite Amin Esmaeilnezhad led them with 19 points, including four blocks and two aces, while setter Grzegorz Lomacz collected the MVP prize. GKS’s opposite Bartosz Gomulka was the top scorer of the match with 24 points.

The PlusLiga marathon continues with the two eighth-leg matches on Tuesday and Wednesday. The 14^th leg starts on Thursday with games played every day until Monday.

PlusLiga 2024-2025 8th leg:
Nov 26, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): Barkom Kazhany Lviv v Indykpol AZS Olsztyn
Nov 27, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): Nowak-Mosty MKS Bedzin v Slepsk Malow Suwalki

PlusLiga 2024-2025 14th leg:
Nov 28, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): PGE Projekt Warsaw v PGE GiEK SKRA Belchatow
Nov 29, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): GKS Katowice v Slepsk Malow Suwalki
Nov 29, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie v PSG Stal Nysa
Nov 30, 14:45 local (13:45 UTC): Asseco Resovia Rzeszow v ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle
Nov 30, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): BOGDANKA LUK Lublin v Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj
Dec 01, 14:45 local (13:45 UTC): Barkom Kazhany Lviv v Nowak-Mosty MKS Bedzin
Dec 01, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): Indykpol AZS Olsztyn v Cuprum Stilon Gorzow Wielkopolski
Dec 02, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): Steam Hemarpol Norwid Czestochowa v Trefl Gdansk

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