Steam Hemarpol Norwid Czestochowa put an end to their losing streak of five matches in the Polish PlusLiga, plus one more in the Puchar Polski. On Monday evening, they closed the 27th leg of the PlusLiga regular season with a four-set win on the road at one of their direct rivals for the remaining playoff vacancies, Indykpol AZS Olsztyn, and got closer to booking a spot in the quarterfinals. Meanwhile, GKS Katowice became the second team bound to lose their PlusLiga spot at the end of the season.
PlusLiga 2024-2025
Norwid end long losing streak, zoom in on the playoffs
Recap of PlusLiga’s 27th-leg matches
Published 06:56, 04 Mar 2025
Norwid’s Bartlomiej Lipinski trying to overcome Indykpol’s block (photo: Artur Kijewski / plusliga.pl)
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Steam Hemarpol Norwid Czestochowa put together a hard-fought 3-1 (29-27, 25-17, 14-25, 26-24) victory over Indykpol AZS Olsztyn and consolidated in eighth place in the current standings, on 40 points and a 14-13 win-loss record, staying just above the cut-off for the playoffs and maintaining a four-point gap from closest contender Slepsk Malow Suwalki. In a scoring race between two Czech opposites, Norwid’s Patrik Indra topped the match chart with 24 points and claimed the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award, while his counterpart Jan Hadrava led the home team with 22.
It was Indykpol’s third defeat in a row. In a postponed 18th-leg game played on Thursday, ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle beat them in straight sets, 3-0 (25-16, 26-24, 25-15), with opposites Bartosz Kurek and Jan Havrava sharing the top-scorer honours with 15 points each. The team from Olsztyn has now dropped to 11th place on 34 and 10-17, but still holds a mathematical shot at the playoffs.
ZAKSA failed to follow up in their regular 27th-leg fixture against Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie, also at home, on Sunday, and suffered a 3-0 (25-15, 25-23, 25-23) shutout to stay in fifth place on 55 and 19-8. Aluron are second on 64 and 21-6. Their opposite Karol Butryn was on fire producing a 26-point match high, including three aces and a kill block.
The other four teams already qualified for the playoffs added three points each to their records to maintain the order at the top end of the table. Defending champions Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj allowed a set to their already relegated hosts Nowak-Mosty MKS Bedzin, but came back to win by 3-1 (21-25, 25-20, 25-14, 25-22) and improved to 69 and 22-5 at the top of the standings. Outside hitter Tomasz Fornal led the winners with 16 points, while Nowak-Mosty’s opposite Patryk Szwaradzki topped the match chart with 19, including three aces and a block.
In Friday’s leg opener, PGE Projekt Warsaw achieved a 3-1 (25-15, 17-25, 25-21, 25-17) home win over Cuprum Stilon Gorzow Wielkopolski with a match-high 23 points, including four blocks and two aces, from German outside Tobias Brand. Standing third on 63 and 23-4, the squad from the capital is still the team with the highest number of wins in the PlusLiga so far this season. Meanwhile, Cuprum Gorzow are no longer in the running for the playoffs. They are in 12th place on 28 and 11-16 and very close to securing survival in the PlusLiga for next season.
BOGDANKA LUK Lublin mastered a 3-0 (25-10, 25-20, 25-17) sweep of their match at PSG Stal Nysa. Outside Wilfredo Leon fired four aces to lead the winners with a match-high total of 17 points. Lublin kept their fourth place on 57 and 19-8, while Stal are just above the relegation zone, in 13th place on 25 and 7-20, staying five points clear with three legs to go.
In one of the most anticipated games of the weekend, Asseco Resovia Rzeszow hammered out a 3-0 (25-16, 25-21, 25-21) away victory over PGE GiEK SKRA Belchatow and extended their winning streak to 12 matches across all competitions. Resovia’s French opposite Stephen Boyer led the winners with 14 points to share the top scorer honours with his Iranian counterpart Amin Esmaeilnezhad. The gap between the two teams in the table widened to six points. Playoff-bound Resovia stand sixth on 51 and 15-11. SKRA are seventh on 45 and 15-12, just a point from also securing a quarterfinal berth.
Slepsk Malow Suwalki and Trefl Gdansk remained in contention for the playoffs with home wins. Slepsk Malow celebrated a 3-1 (26-24, 17-25, 30-28, 25-23) victory over Barkom Kazhany Lviv on Friday, with a match-high 23 points from opposite Bartosz Filipiak, to improve to 36 and 13-14 in ninth place, just four points below the red line for the quarterfinals. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian team failed to narrow the gap to salvation and remained in 14th place on 20 and 7-20, five points behind Stal.
By losing at Trefl Gdansk on Sunday, GKS Katowice completely lost hope of survival and became the second PlusLiga team bound to play in the second division next season. Trefl claimed a 3-2 (23-25, 25-16, 18-25, 25-20, 15-11) victory with a match-high 27 points from opposite Aliaksei Nasevich, including three aces and three blocks, and moved up to 10th place on 34 and 11-16, six points from the playoff zone. GKS are 15th on 15 and 5-22.
PlusLiga action will resume as soon as Tuesday, March 4, with an early 29th-leg fixture with Slepsk Malow Suwalki hosting GKS Katowice at 17:30 local time (16:30 UTC). The matches of the 28th leg will follow from Thursday to Monday.
PlusLiga 2024-2025 29th leg:
Mar 04, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): Slepsk Malow Suwalki v GKS Katowice
PlusLiga 2024-2025 28th leg:
Mar 06, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): Barkom Kazhany Lviv v ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle
Mar 06, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie v Nowak-Mosty MKS Bedzin
Mar 08, 14:45 local (13:45 UTC): PGE Projekt Warsaw v Trefl Gdansk
Mar 08, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): Asseco Resovia Rzeszow v Slepsk Malow Suwalki
Mar 08, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): BOGDANKA LUK Lublin v Indykpol AZS Olsztyn
Mar 09, 14:45 local (13:45 UTC): Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj v PSG Stal Nysa
Mar 09, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): Steam Hemarpol Norwid Czestochowa v Cuprum Stilon Gorzow Wielkopolski
Mar 10, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): GKS Katowice v PGE GiEK SKRA Belchatow
