Kaczmarek against Kurek in PlusLiga’s big match on Sunday

The two star opposites of Poland’s men’s national volleyball team – Lukasz Kaczmarek and Bartosz Kurek – will face each other across the net this weekend, as their club teams, Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj and ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle, go head to head in Sunday’s big match of the 26^th leg, which is to start on Friday and end on Monday.

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Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj and ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle will meet at 14:45 local time (13:45 UTC) on February 23. Hosts Jastrzebski Wegiel are leaders in the current standings, five points clear at the top, on 63 points and a 20-5 win-loss record, while ZAKSA are in fourth place on 52 and 18-6 with a game in hand, five points behind third-placed PGE Projekt Warsaw.

While the defending champions are battling on three fronts, the CEV Champions League, the PlusLiga and the TAURON Puchar Polski, ZAKSA lost their national cup quarterfinal at Projekt on Tuesday, despite a solid 30-point match high from their star captain Bartosz Kurek. In the PlusLiga, however, they have been on an eight-match winning streak, which they hope to extend as they visit Lukasz Kaczmarek and his stellar squad on Sunday.

The long-running rivalry between the two clubs in the Polish league has resulted in a 50-47 head-to-head record in favour of Jastrzebski Wegiel. When they last met in November, however, hosts ZAKSA upset the champions in a four-setter, with Kurek coming in as a sub-in and Mateusz Recko leading the way as the main opposite and the team’s best scorer with 17 points. While Kaczmarek produced only nine points in that match, outside hitter Tomasz Fornal topped the match charts with 24 for Jastrzebski. Due to injuries, ZAKSA will still have to cope with an incomplete squad in the upcoming match though. Currently, three players are struggling with injuries: Belgian outside Igor Grobelny, American middle blocker David Smith, as well as middle blocker Karol Urbanowicz.

The 26^th leg will open on Friday, February 21, at 17:30 (16:30) with Asseco Resovia Rzeszow hosting Trefl Gdansk. The home team has been on a fantastic run of nine consecutive wins between the PlusLiga and the CEV Cup and stands comfortably in sixth place on 46 and 14-11. Trefl are 11^th on 31 and 10-15, still with a realistic shot at the playoffs. When they met in Gdansk for their 11^th-leg fixture in November, they put up a five-set battle, from which Resovia emerged with the victory.

Saturday’s programme will open at 14:45 (13:45) with Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie’s home game against Slepsk Malow Suwalki. Aluron are running second in the table on 58 and 19-6 and are the heavy favourites in this encounter with Slepsk Malow, who are in 10^th place on 33 and 12-13, well in the running for the playoff spots. The reigning national cup and super cup winners won November’s away match in straight sets.

The second match of the day could have bearing on the scuffle for survival in the PlusLiga. Starting at 17:30 (16:30), PSG Stal Nysa will welcome Nowak-Mosty MKS Bedzin. Stal are just three points above the red line for relegation, in 13^th place on 22 and 6-19, and will desperately fight to stay above. Lingering on a negative streak of 15 consecutive defeats, bottom-placed Nowak-Mosty’s hopes of survival might be fading away, but they are still alive. At 12 and 3-22, the squad from Bedzin needs to make up at least a 10-point lag. Their most recent win was in the home match against Stal in November, when they celebrated a 3-1 victory.

Another team that has been struggling to find its way up to a safe place, GKS Katowice, will entertain Cuprum Stilon Gorzow Wielkopolski in Saturday’s closing match at 20:30 (19:30). GKS are second from the bottom, on 12 and 4-21, seemingly just as doomed as Nowak-Mosty, while Cuprum Stilon stand on 27 and 11-14, two spots and eight points above the red line, but need at least two more points to their name to guarantee their safety. It was a five-set duel between the two sides in November with the hosts from Gorzow Wielkopolski finally claiming victory.

Third-placed PGE Projekt Warsaw, standing on 57 and 21-4, and Indykpol AZS Olsztyn, another candidate for a playoff spot, currently just below the cut-off, in ninth place on 34 and 10-14, will meet in Sunday’s second game at 17:30 (16:30) in the Polish capital. These two also pushed their previous encounter to a tie-breaker resolution in November, with the visitors from Warsaw celebrating in the end.

In a remake of Wednesday’s Poland Cup quarterfinal, BOGDANKA LUK Lublin will host Steam Hemarpol Norwid Czestochowa again, in Sunday’s late match at 20:30 (19:30), hoping to repeat the straight-set success they achieved earlier this week. Lublin stand in fifth place on 51 and 17-8, while Norwid, who are desperate to put an end to their five-match losing streak, are still hanging on to the edge of the playoff zone, in eighth place on 37 and 13-12. When they last met in the PlusLiga in November, the team from Czestochowa celebrated a 3-1 win.

In the leg’s closing match on Monday, at 17:30 (16:30), Ukraine’s Barkom Kazhany Lviv will try to overcome their visitors PGE GiEK SKRA Belchatow in another attempt to collect precious points towards survival. Barkom are right below the red line, in 14^th place on 19 and 7-18, three points behind 13^th-placed Stal. SKRA, on the other hand, are hoping to consolidate their spot in the quarterfinals. Riding the wave of a four-win series, they are currently in seventh place on 43 and 14-11. When they played them at home in November, SKRA beat Barkom in straight sets.

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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