Jastrzebski upset at home; Projekt edge Lublin despite Leon’s eight aces

The 24^th leg in the Polish PlusLiga stirred a few surprises and quite a lot of movement in the current standings. In the most interesting match of the leg, PGE Projekt Warsaw overcame a smashing eight aces from Wilfredo Leon to claim a five-set comeback victory at BOGDANKA LUK Lublin. In another game, defending champions and table leaders Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj suffered a four-set upset at home.

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PGE Projekt Warsaw mounted a huge comeback from two sets down to celebrate a 3-2 (19-25, 11-25, 25-23, 25-20, 17-15) victory over their hosts BOGDANKA LUK Lublin on Friday. The home team’s Cuban-born outside hitter Wilfredo Leon fired as many as eight serving aces, raised three kill blocks and spiked at a 67% success rate to finish with a match-high 29 points, but that stellar performance was not enough to lead his team to success in the game. Projekt were led by opposite Bartlomiej Boladz with 17 points, Ukrainian middle blocker Yurii Semeniuk with 16, outside Artur Szalpuk with 14, and middle Jakub Kochanowski with 13, while the Most Valuable Player award went to libero Damian Wojtaszek. The team from the capital improved to 54 points and a 20-4 win-loss record, and stand in third place, while BOGDANKA dropped a spot down to fifth on 48 and 16-8.

In the most surprising result of the leg, PGE GiEK SKRA Belchatow shocked table leaders Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj on their ground with a 3-1 (23-25, 25-21, 28-26, 25-22) win on Sunday. SKRA’s Serbian outside Miran Kujundzic spearheaded the visitors with a match-high 22 points, earning the MVP nomination, while opposite Lukasz Kaczmarek was Jastrzebski’s most prolific player with 20 points. The defending champions are still in first place, now two points clear, on 60 and 19-5. SKRA rose a spot to seventh place on 40 and 13-11.

They overtook Steam Hemarpol Norwid Czestochowa, who were defeated by GKS Katowice in another big upset of the weekend. On Saturday, GKS celebrated a 3-1 (25-22, 25-19, 22-25, 25-16) home win over Norwid and finally left the bottom of the table behind to climb to 15^th place on 12 and 4-20. The squad from Czestochowa fell to eighth on 37 and 13-11. The winners’ Tunisian outside Aymen Bouguerra was the best scorer of the match with 23 points.

Another team in the relegation zone also rejoiced victorious, trying to get closer to salvation. Ukraine’s Barkom Kazhany Lviv achieved a 3-1 (20-25, 26-24, 28-26, 25-21) home win over Cuprum Stilon Gorzow Wielkopolski in the leg’s opening match on Thursday. Opposite Vasyl Tupchii topped the match charts with 27 points. Cuprum Stilon are still a comfortable eight points above the red zone, in 12^th place on 27 and 11-13, while Barkom Kazhany are in 14^th on 19 and 7-17.

They managed to narrow the distance to salvation by only a point as their main rival, 13^th-placed PSG Stal Nysa, also achieved a home win on Sunday, a narrow 3-2 (24-26, 25-21, 21-25, 25-21, 17-15) over Slepsk Malow Suwalki, to improve to 21 and 6-18. Slepsk Malow are right below the cutoff for the playoffs, in ninth place on 33 and 12-12. Outside Michal Gierzot led the winners with 21 points, while his counterpart Pawel Halaba emerged as the best scorer of the match with 22.

Second-placed Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie took advantage of Jastrzebski Wegiel’s loss to narrow the distance to the top with a 3-0 (25-16, 25-19, 25-20) shutout of their visitors Trefl Gdansk. Aluron’s opposite Karol Butryn led the way with 13 points. Aluron got to within two points from Jastrzebski Wegiel, on 58 and 19-5. Trefl are 11^th on 28 and 9-15.

Asseco Resovia Rzeszow also mastered a straight-set win at home, 3-0 (25-15, 25-22, 26-24) over Indykpol AZS Olsztyn, and improved to 43 and 13-11 in sixth place. Indykpol stand in 10^th place on 31 and 9-14 with a game in hand. Outside Bartosz Bednorz and French opposite Stephen Boyer shared the top scorer honours of the match with 14 points apiece towards Resovia’s success.

In the leg’s closing match on Monday evening, ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle produced a 3-0 (25-19, 25-18, 25-23) sweep on the road at Nowak-Mosty MKS Bedzin and moved up to fourth place on 50 and 17-6 with a game in hand, while pushing Nowak-Mosty to the bottom of the standings, 16^th place on 12 and 3-21. ZAKSA’s star opposite Bartosz Kurek delivered a match-high 21 points.

The 25^th leg will get underway on Thursday, February 13, and come to a completion on Monday, February 17.

PlusLiga 2024-2025 25th leg:
Feb 13, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle v PSG Stal Nysa
Feb 14, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): PGE GiEK SKRA Belchatow v Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie
Feb 14, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): Steam Hemarpol Norwid Czestochowa v PGE Projekt Warsaw
Feb 15, 12:30 local (11:30 UTC): Slepsk Malow Suwalki v Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj
Feb 15, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): Indykpol AZS Olsztyn v GKS Katowice
Feb 16, 18:00 local (17:00 UTC): Nowak-Mosty MKS Bedzin v BOGDANKA LUK Lublin
Feb 16, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): Cuprum Stilon Gorzow Wielkopolski v Asseco Resovia Rzeszow
Feb 17, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): Trefl Gdansk v Barkom Kazhany Lviv

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