Steam fight for survival, stun Jastrzebski Wegiel in Poland

Table trailers Steam Hemarpol Politechnika Czestochowa delivered a huge three-point win at home, upsetting JSW Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj in their quest for salvation in the men’s volleyball PlusLiga, in one of six exciting matches played from Friday to Sunday in Poland.

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Steam Hemarpol Politechnika Czestochowa showed no intention of giving up on the fight for survival in the PlusLiga and surprised the mighty JSW Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj, who won last year’s regular season. Steam celebrated a 3-1 (31-29, 25-20, 17-25, 25-20) home victory with a team-high 20 points from Iranian outside hitter Milad Ebadipour, including one ace. His cross-court teammate Bartlomiej Lipinski added 19 points, including three kill blocks and an ace, and claimed the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award. Czech opposite Patrik Indra also chipped in with 19 points, all in swings. Jastrzebski Wegiel’s outside Michal Gierzot topped the match chart with 22 points, including two stuffs. Steam, however, are still at the bottom of the current standings, in 14^th place, on 16 points and a 4-16 win-loss record. Jastrzebski Wegiel remained in sixth place on 33 and 12-9.

Table leaders Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie battled it out for a 3-2 (25-23, 21-25, 24-26, 25-22, 15-12) home win over Energa Trefl Gdansk on Saturday and improved to 47 and 16-5 on top of the current standings. Trefl stand seventh on 31 and 11-9. Opposite Bartlomiej Boladz contributed a team-high 25 points, including three blocks, for the FIVB Volleyball Men’s Club World Championship bronze medalists, but it was middle blocker and captain Mateusz Bieniek, who earned the MVP award with an 82% success rate in attack, three aces and a kill block towards an 18-point tally. Trefl’s opposite Damian Schulz emerged as the best scorer of the match with 30 points, including four stuffs.

BOGDANKA LUK Lublin and Slepsk Malow Suwalki also played five sets later on Saturday, with the defending champions mounting a 3-2 (21-25, 27-29, 25-19, 25-17, 15-4) reverse sweep at home. 22-year-old French outside Hilir Henno hit 20 points for Lublin, all in attack at a 62% success rate, and took the MVP nomination, sharing the top scorer honors with Bulgarian counterpart Asparuh Asparuhov, who led Slepsk Malow with two aces, a kill block and 17 spike kills. Another Bulgarian, middle blocker Aleks Grozdanov, impressed with seven kill blocks, garnished with eight successful swings at 62% and two aces to finish with the next best score of 17 points. BOGDANKA stayed in fourth place on 39 and 13-7. Slepsk Malow are in 10^th on 25 and 7-14.

The weekend started on Friday evening with Indykpol AZS Olsztyn’s 3-1 (16-25, 30-28, 25-22, 35-22) away victory over ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle. Outside hitter Pawel Halaba led the winners with 17 points and claimed the MVP award. His tally included three aces and a kill block. Italian international opposite Kamil Rychlicki produced a match-high 26 points, including two aces and a block, for ZAKSA. Indykpol climbed to third place on 39 and 14-6, while ZAKSA dropped out of the playoff zone, to ninth place on 29 and 9-12.

Their place above the cut-off line was taken by PGE GiEK SKRA Belchatow, who put together a 3-1 (19-25, 25-23, 25-20, 25-19) comeback win over their visitors Asseco Resovia Rzeszow on Sunday, and ascended to eighth place on 30 and 10-9, with two games in hand. Resovia fell to fifth on 37 and 13-8. Moroccan outside Zouheir Elgraoui put up four kill blocks and two aces, while spiking at a 71% success rate, to come out as the match MVP and top scorer with 26 points to his name. His Resovia counterpart Artur Szalpuk shined on the block with five stuffs and finished with 24 points.

In Sunday’s closing match, Barkom Kazhany Lviv claimed a 3-1 (22-25, 25-16, 25-21, 25-22) home victory over InPost ChKS Chelm to keep the distance from Steam at the low end of the table. The Ukrainian team improved to 20 and 7-14 and rose two positions to 11^th place, leaving Chelm behind in the penultimate 13^th place on 20 and 6-15. Australian outside Lorenzo Pope was the best scorer of the match with 19 points, including one ace and one block, while German setter and captain Lukas Kampa was honored as match MVP.

The last match of the 22^nd leg, between Projekt Warsaw v Cuprum Stilon Gorzow Wielkopolski, is set to be played on Monday, February 23, followed by four 23^rd-leg games on Tuesday and Wednesday, February 24 and 25.

PlusLiga 2025-2026 upcoming matches:
Feb 23, 20:00 local (19:00 UTC): PGE Projekt Warsaw v Cuprum Stilon Gorzow Wielkopolski
Feb 24, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): Indykpol AZS Olsztyn v BOGDANKA LUK Lublin
Feb 24, 20:00 local (19:00 UTC): Slepsk Malow Suwalki v Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie
Feb 25, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): Energa Trefl Gdansk v InPost ChKS Chelm
Feb 25, 20:00 local (19:00 UTC): PGE Projekt Warsaw v Steam Hemarpol Politechnika Czestochowa

PlusLiga 2025-2026 schedule and results

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