DevelopRes and Budowlani clash in the Tauron Liga

Defending champions and 2025-2026 Tauron Liga leaders KS DevelopRes Rzeszów are set to face the only team that managed to take them down in Polish volleyball this season on Sunday, when they meet rivals PGE Budowlani Łódź in the third leg of the second round of the regular season.

The Polish giants are set to face off in Rzeszów, at 20:00 local time (21:00 UTC), in a match that can have a major impact on the race for the top spot in the standings ahead of the start of the playoffs.

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With 12 wins and just one loss, delivered exactly by Budowlani, DevelopRes are comfortably at the top of the standings with 37 points. Budowlani come next with 33 (11 wins, two losses) and have a tremendous opportunity to bring the difference down to a single point if they win in three or four sets. On the contrary, if DevelopRes claim all three points in front of their home fans, they will increase their separation from the rest of the field to seven points with eight matches left in the regular season.

DevelopRes have been in top form in the Tauron Liga since they dropped a five-setter to Budowlani in October. The defending champions won ten straight matches after the upset, dropping only three sets and collecting all 30 points in play.

Team captain and setter Katarzyna Wenerska has been leading the team on the court, connecting particularly well with American opposite Taylor Bannister, the league's third-best scorer with 194 points and the leader in aces with 31. Third in the league in passing efficiency (59.41%), libero Aleksandra Szczygłowska is another standout for the defending champions.

Chasing their first Polish title, Budowlani are currently in their longest winning streak in the season, having won their last six matches. They last went down by the end of November, when UNI Opole swept them.

Polish national team outside hitter Paulina Damaske and Swiss opposite Maja Storck lead the team from Łódź offensively, with each having scored 163 points so far. Slovenian middle blocker Saša Planinšec, who's fifth in the league in blocks (35), and libero Justyna Łysiak, who's second in digs (194), are other pillars of the team.

Opponents in the Tauron Liga since 2014-2015, the teams have met 28 times and DevelopRes have been the most successful, with 16 victories. They also won four of the last five duels, but two of the last three went to five sets, including the most recent one, which they lost.

First match on Thursday

The third leg of the second round of the Tauron Liga will begin with a single match on Thursday, reuniting 11th-placed Sokół & Hagric Mogilno and seventh-placed Metalkas Pałac Bydgoszcz at 17:30 local time (18:30 UTC).

Saturday's schedule will have a doubleheader, with sixth-placed BKS BOSTIK ZGO Bielsko-Biała and fifth-placed LOTTO Chemik Police battling at 12:30 (13:30 UTC) and 12th-placed EcoHarpoon NOWEL LOS Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki and third-placed UNI Opole meeting at 16:00 (17:00 UTC).

Tauron Liga - Match Schedule & Results

Ninth-placed ITA TOOLS STAL Mielec and tenth-placed #VolleyWrocław meet on Sunday, at 19:00 (20:00 UTC), while eighth-placed MOYA Radomka Radom and fourth-placed ŁKS Commercecon Łódź complete the schedule on Monday, at 17:30 (18:30 UTC).

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