Race for the top tightens up in the Tauron Liga

The battle for the top spot in the Tauron Liga standings tends to get even more intense going forward as, after the conclusion of the sixth leg of the regular season on Monday, four teams are strongly in the mix for first place in the Polish League.

PGE Grot Budowlani Łódź and crosstown rivals ŁKS Commercecon Łódź are ranked first and second, with 16 points, but are closely chased by KS DevelopRes Rzeszów and BKS BOSTIK ZGO Bielsko-Biała, which have 15. The group has created significant separation from the rest of the pack, with fifth-placed MOYA Radomka Radom appearing far behind, with ten points.

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The current scenario started to take shape in the first match of the weekend, on Thursday, when DevelopRes topped Budowlani 3-2 (30-28, 25-18, 14-25, 12-25, 19-17) in a dramatic five-set battle in Łódź. This way, besides remaining as the only undefeated team in the country, they also prevented their rivals from running away at the top of the standings.

Opposite Sabrina Machado, the team’s top scorer with 15 points, star middle blocker Agnieszka Korneluk, who scored 14 and took home the match MVP award, and outside hitter Monika Fedusio, who added another 14 points, led DevelopRes in their victory. Budowlani’s Italian opposite Terry Enweonwu was the match’s top scorer with 25 points.

“It’s hard to say why we came up short, we left our hearts on the court,” Budowlani’s outside hitter Karolina Drużkowska reflected. “The fact that the tie-breaker ended at 19-17 shows we fought until the end. But it is what it is. Two undefeated teams met and one had to lose. It didn’t end the way we wanted, but we certainly won’t give up and will continue looking ahead.”

On Saturday, Commercecon caught Budowlani at the top of the standings thanks to their 3-1 (26-25, 18-25, 25-21, 25-22) win over sxith-placed UNI Opole. Had them triumphed in straight sets, they would appear in first place with a higher set ratio.

Polish national team outside hitter Zuzanna Górecka led the team’s offense with 18 points, two more than middle blocker Anna Obiała, who was awarded as the match’s MVP.

Bielsko-Biała win twice in five days

Polish Supercup champions Bielsko-Biała were the biggest winners of the week in the country as they won two matches to join the top group in the standings. On Thursday, they played a postponed match from the second leg against UNI Opole and triumphed 3-0 (25-17, 25-23, 25-12), with outside hitter Julita Piasecka contributing 18 points.

On Monday, in the final match of the sixth leg, they came from behind to top seventh-placed #VolleyWrocław 3-1 (23-25, 25-13, 25-19, 25-19). With 17 points, Piasecka was again their leading scorer, this time tied with fellow outside hitter Martyna Borowczak.

The sixth leg of the Tauron Liga also had tenth-placed Metalkas Pałac Bydgoszcz beating 11^th-placed and defending champions Lotto Chemik Police 3-0 (25-20, 25-17, 25-20) on Saturday, eighth-placed Energa MKS Kalisz overcoming fifth-placed Radomka 3-1 (16-25, 25-22, 25-16, 25-21) on Sunday and ninth-placed ITA TOOLS STAL Mielec beating 12^th-placed Sokół & Hagric Mogilno 3-2 (21-25, 25-14, 25-15, 22-25, 15-6) on Monday.

The seventh leg of the Tauron Liga will have only four matches taking place over the weekend in the country – one on Saturday and three on Sunday. Radomka and Mielec already played their match earlier last week, while Bielsko-Biała and Budowlani will only meet in December.

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