Projekt retake second place from Aluron who lose five-setter in Czestochowa

PGE Projekt Warsaw closed the 21^st leg in the Polish PlusLiga on Tuesday evening with a home win over Barkom Kazhany Lviv and climbed back up to second place in the current standings, overtaking Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie, who lost dramatically at Steam Hemarpol Norwid Czestochowa on Saturday in one of the four five-setters the leg offered over the weekend.

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In front of four thousand spectators on the stands, Steam Hemarpol Norwid Czestochowa came back from a set behind to down yet another strong favourite this season, celebrating a 3-2 (30-28, 23-25, 22-25, 25-20, 15-12) victory at home over Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie. Czech opposite Patrik Indra led the way with a match-high 26 points, including three aces and two kill blocks, while the Most Valuable Player (MVP) nomination went to Norwid’s Iranian outside hitter and captain Milad Ebadipour, who scored 20 points. Aluron’s most prolific player, American outside Aaron Russell, also finished with 20 points. Norwid improved to 37 points and a 13-8 win-loss record in sixth place, and Aluron dropped to third place on 49 and 16-5.

PGE Projekt Warsaw improved to 49 and 18-3, enough to reclaim the second place, after achieving a 3-1 (25-22, 27-29, 25-16, 25-16) home win over Barkom Kazhany Lviv on Tuesday evening. The Ukrainian team is the first team below the red line for relegation, standing in 14^th place on 13 and 5-16. Projekt’s outside Artur Szalpuk was the MVP and the best scorer of the match with 26 points, including two aces and two blocks.

In another five-set duel, ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle came back from a set down twice during their visit to PGE GiEK SKRA Belchatow to celebrate a 3-2 (21-25, 25-22, 25-27, 25-15, 15-12) victory. ZAKSA’s star opposite Bartosz Kurek led the way with a match-high 21 points. The team from Kedzierzyn-Kozle is in fifth place on 42 and 14-6 with a game in hand, while SKRA are just above the cut-off for the playoffs, in eighth place on 31 and 10-11.

Fourth-placed BOGDANKA LUK Lublin also took a five-set away win on Sunday. They came back from two sets down to beat Slepsk Malow Suwalki deep into the overtime of the tie-breaker, by 3-2 (23-25, 21-25, 25-18, 25-23, 19-17), and improve to 43 and 15-6, leaving the opponent in ninth place on 29 and 11-10. Outside Wilfredo Leon (four kill blocks, three aces) and opposite Kewin Sasak led Lublin with 23 points each, while opposite Bartosz Filipiak produced a match-high 26 points (three blocks, three aces) for Slepsk Malow.

The leg opened on Friday evening with Cuprum Stilon Gorzow Wielkopolski’s nail-biting 3-2 (25-17, 22-25, 30-28, 19-25, 16-14) home win over PSG Stal Nysa. Brazilian opposite Chizoba Neves led the winners with a match-high 23 points. Cuprum are in 11^th place on 27 and 11-10. Even the one point earned by Stal was very precious for the team, as they are trying to stay as far as possible from the relegation zone. On 18 and 5-16 in 13^th place, they are five points away for now.

Table leaders Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj improved to 54 and 17-4 and widened the gap at the top to five points as they claimed a 3-1 (25-20, 19-25, 25-23, 25-23) victory on the road at Indykpol AZS Olsztyn on Tuesday. Indykpol are 10^th on 28 and 8-12. French outside Timothee Carle was the best scorer of the match, leading the defending champions with 22 points.

Trefl Gdansk delivered a 3-1 (27-29, 25-21, 25-18, 25-15) home win over Nowak-Mosty MKS Bedzin on Saturday with a 24-point match high from opposite Aliaksei Nasevich, including four aces. Trefl are 12^th on 26 and 8-13, while Nowak-Mosty are second from the bottom, in 15^th place on 12 and 3-18.

In the leg’s only straight-setter, Asseco Resovia Rzeszow hammered out a 3-0 (25-18, 25-18, 25-17) shutout of their hosts GKS Katowice and improved to 34 and 10-11 in seventh place. GKS are stuck at the bottom of the table on 9 and 3-18. Resovia’s Czech outside Lukas Vasina and French opposite Stephen Boyer shared the top scorer honours of the match with 13 points apiece.

The 22^nd leg will spread over five consecutive days, from Thursday, January 23, to Monday, January 27.

PlusLiga 2024-2025 22nd leg:
Jan 23, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): Nowak-Mosty MKS Bedzin v PGE GiEK SKRA Belchatow
Jan 24, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): PSG Stal Nysa v Trefl Gdansk
Jan 24, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): Indykpol AZS Olsztyn v Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie
Jan 25, 14:45 local (13:45 UTC): Asseco Resovia Rzeszow v PGE Projekt Warsaw
Jan 25, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj v Cuprum Stilon Gorzow Wielkopolski
Jan 25, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): BOGDANKA LUK Lublin v GKS Katowice
Jan 26, 14:45 local (13:45 UTC): ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle v Slepsk Malow Suwalki
Jan 27, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): Barkom Kazhany Lviv v Steam Hemarpol Norwid Czestochowa

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