Jastrzebski v Lublin and Aluron v Projekt shape up as Poland Cup semis

Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj will meet BOGDANKA LUK Lublin and Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie will take on PGE Projekt Warsaw in the men’s TAURON Puchar Polski semifinals, set to be played on April 12 at the TAURON Arena in Krakow, a day before the final match determines the trophy winner of the 68th edition of the Polish national cup at the same venue. In the most interesting of the four quarterfinals held this week in Poland, Projekt outplayed ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle despite an impressive 30-point tally from the opponent’s star opposite Bartosz Kurek.

• Watch the TAURON Puchar Polski on VBTV.

PGE Projekt Warsaw hosted ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle in the first quarterfinal on Tuesday and produced a 3-1 (22-25, 25-22, 27-25, 25-22) victory to advance to the Poland Cup semifinals for the fifth time in the club’s history. However, they have never managed to progress further to the gold medal showdown. Opposite Bartlomiej Boladz led Projekt with 19 points, including one kill block and one ace. Another four Projekt players reached the double digits in scoring – middle blockers Jakub Kochanowski with 13 (four kill blocks) and Ukrainian Yurii Demeniuk with 12, and outside hitters Artur Szalpuk with 13 and Frenchman Kevin Tillie with 10. ZAKSA’s opposite Bartosz Kurek was by far the best scorer of the match. He put away as many as 30 points, including three blocks and an ace. Outsides Rafal Szymura and Belgian Igor Grobelny, who suffered an injury during the third set and was subbed out, finished with 13 and 11 points, respectively.

Another two PlusLiga teams met in one of Wednesday’s quarterfinals. BOGDANKA LUK Lublin put together a 3-0 (25-17, 25-23, 25-22) sweep of their home game against Steam Hemarpol Norwid Czestochowa and reached the Puchar Polski semifinals for the second time in history, after doing so last year too. Lublin’s star outside hitter Wilfredo Leon contributed a match-high 17 points, including two aces and a block. Opposite Kewin Sasak added another 15 points, while outside Mikolaj Sawicki finished with 10, including three aces. Outsides Bartlomiej Lipinski and Iranian Milad Ebadipour scored 12 and 10 points, respectively, for Norwid. Czech opposite Patrik Indra put away 11.

Earlier on Wednesday, Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie mastered a 3-0 (25-19, 26-24, 25-17) victory over their hosts ChKS Chelm to continue the defence of their Poland Cup trophy, which they won last year for the first time. American outside Aaron Russell led the way with 16 points for the winners, supported by opposite Karol Butryn with 13, including four aces, and outside Bartosz Kwolek with 10. For the second-division team of ChKS, opposite Jedrzej Goss was the most prolific scorer with 12 points.

“These matches with teams from lower leagues are never easy. You never know what to expect. You always have to be 100% focused and ready,” Aluron’s middle blocker Milosz Zniszczol told aluroncmc.pl. “We endured a nerve-wracking ending of the second set. It's good that we pulled it out and finished the match without such unnecessary stress. The players from Chelm have their advantages and it's not without reason that they lead in the first league. We definitely made a difference in serving and somewhat later we played a bit better at the net.”

WKS Czarni Radom, also a second-division team, and PlusLiga champions and current table leaders Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj completed the quarterfinal round on Thursday evening. The visitors lived up to their status of heavy favourites in this match and hammered out an emphatic 3-0 (25-19, 25-15, 25-14) shutout. Outside Tomasz Fornal topped the charts with 19 points for the winners, including an impressive six kill blocks and two aces. Middle Norbert Huber was also on fire on the block, raising as many as five stuffs towards an 11-point tally. Opposite Lukasz Kaczmarek aced three times to finish with 14 points. On Czarni’s side, Latvian outside hitter Kristaps Smits was the best scorer with 11 points.

TAURON Puchar Polski 2025 semifinals and final:
Apr 12, 14:45 local (12:45 UTC): Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj v BOGDANKA LUK Lublin
Apr 12, 18:00 local (16:00 UTC): Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie v PGE Projekt Warsaw
Apr 13, 14:45 local (12:45 UTC): Final

PlusLiga 2024-2025 26th leg:
Feb 21, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): Asseco Resovia Rzeszow v Trefl Gdansk
Feb 22, 14:45 local (13:45 UTC): Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie v Slepsk Malow Suwalki
Feb 22, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): PSG Stal Nysa v Nowak-Mosty MKS Bedzin
Feb 22, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): GKS Katowice v Cuprum Stilon Gorzow Wielkopolski
Feb 23, 14:45 local (13:45 UTC): Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj v ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle
Feb 23, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): PGE Projekt Warsaw v Indykpol AZS Olsztyn
Feb 23, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): BOGDANKA LUK Lublin v Steam Hemarpol Norwid Czestochowa
Feb 24, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): Barkom Kazhany Lviv v PGE GiEK SKRA Belchatow

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