SKRA upset Aluron in leg’s big match in Poland

The 25^th leg in the Polish PlusLiga was completed on Monday evening. In the leg’s big match on Friday, PGE GiEK SKRA Belchatow upset Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie, beating the Poland Cup and Poland Super Cup laureates in four sets.

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PGE GiEK SKRA Belchatow achieved a 3-1 (25-22, 27-25, 25-22, 25-19) victory at home over Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie, extending their winning streak to four consecutive matches, and improved to 43 points and a 14-11 win-loss record, staying seventh in the current standings. Although Aluron’s positive run came to an end, they kept the second place in the table on 58 and 19-6, but now as many as five points away from leaders Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj.

SKRA’s Serbian outside hitter Pavle Peric led the way with a match-high 20 points, including three aces and a kill block, and earned the Most Valuable Player (MVP) nomination. Iranian opposite Amin Esmaeilnezhad added another 15 points, while the team’s other Serbian outside, Miran Kujundzic, finished with 12. Aluron were led by opposite Karol Butryn with 15 points and American outside Aaron Russell with 14.

Defending champions Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj widened the gap at the top with a 3-0 (25-21, 25-18, 25-16) sweep of their game at Slepsk Malow Suwalki. German middle blocker Anton Brehme raised three kill blocks and aced twice to top the match charts with a total of 16 points. Jastrzebski Wegiel lead the table on 63 and 20-5, while Slepsk Malow dropped to 10^th place on 33 and 12-13.

Third-placed PGE Projekt Warsaw, on the other hand, narrowed the distance to Aluron to just a point. They collected 57 and 21-4 after shutting out their hosts Steam Hemarpol Norwid Czestochowa and got back at them for the home loss they suffered in the fall. Opposite Bartlomiej Boladz contributed a match-high 23 points, including five aces, towards Projekt’s 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-17) victory. Despite suffering their fourth defeat in a row, Norwid are still hanging on to the edge of the playoff zone, in eighth place on 37 and 13-12.

Before winning Thursday’s leg opener, hosts ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle were surprisingly pushed to five sets by PSG Stal Nysa, who are fighting for survival in the PlusLiga. Belgian outside Igor Grobelny hammered out 22 points, including three aces and three blocks, towards ZAKSA’s 3-2 (24-26, 25-16, 25-17, 23-25, 15-12) victory, while his counterpart Michal Gierzot put away a match-high 24 points for Stal. ZAKSA are in fourth place on 53 and 18-6 with a game in hand. The precious point earned by Stal widened the safety gap from the relegation zone to three points. They occupy 13^th place on 22 and 6-19.

BOGDANKA LUK Lublin mastered a 3-0 (25-17, 25-13, 25-20) away victory over bottom-placed Nowak-Mosty MKS Bedzin to improve to 51 and 17-8 in fifth place. For Nowak-Mosty, the chances of survival in the PlusLiga are continuing to diminish. They trail in 16^th place on 12 and 3-22. Lublin’s Canadian middle Fynnian McCarthy impressed with an amazing eight aces towards a match-high 15 points.

Asseco Resovia Rzeszow extended their winning streak to nine consecutive matches, six of which in the PlusLiga. On Sunday, they celebrated a 3-1 (28-26, 23-25, 26-24, 25-16) victory on the road at Cuprum Stilon Gorzow Wielkopolski with a match-high 22 points from Slovenian outside Klemen Cebulj, including three aces and two blocks. Resovia are running in sixth place on 46 and 14-11, while Cuprum Stilon, for whom it was the fourth loss in a row, are in 12^th place on 27 and 11-14.

Indykpol AZS Olsztyn stayed well in contention for the playoff spots with a 3-1 (25-20, 25-18, 21-25, 25-22) home win over GKS Katowice, which lifted them to ninth place on 34 and 10-14 with a game in hand, three points below the cut-off. GKS’s hopes to avoid relegation are continuing to fade away, as they stand 15^th on 12 and 4-21. Czech opposite Jan Hadrava led Indykpol with 17 points, while his counterpart Bartosz Gomulka was the best scorer of the match with 26 points, including six blocks, for the visitors.

In the leg’s closing game on Monday evening, Trefl Gdansk hammered out a 3-0 (25-19, 25-22, 25-16) shutout of their visitors Barkom Kazhany Lviv, who failed to take advantage of an opportunity to climb out of the relegation zone and remained in 14^th place on 19 and 7-18, three points short of salvation. Trefl saved some realistic chances to aim at the playoffs as they stand 11^th on 31 and 12-13. Their opposite Aliaksei Nasevich was the top scorer of the match against the Ukrainian opponents with 15 points.

The 26^th leg will take place from Friday, February 21, to Monday, February 24. Before that, from Tuesday to Thursday, the four quarterfinals of the Poland Cup will be played.

TAURON Puchar Polski 2025 quarterfinals:
Feb 18, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): PGE Projekt Warsaw v ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle
Feb 19, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): ChKS Chelm v Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie
Feb 19, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): BOGDANKA LUK Lublin v Steam Hemarpol Norwid Czestochowa
Feb 20, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): WKS Czarni Radom v Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj

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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