Stal closer to safety in PlusLiga; Nowak-Mosty doomed

PSG Stal Nysa took the three points from their home game against Nowak-Mosty MKS Bedzin on Saturday and doomed the opponent to relegation four legs before the end of the regular season in the Polish PlusLiga. While for Nowak-Mosty salvation in the elite division of Polish men’s volleyball is no longer mathematically possible, Stal managed to widen their safety gap to five points after their main rival in the scuffle for survival, Ukraine’s Barkom Kazhany Lviv, lost at home to PGE GiEK SKRA Belchatow in a five-set drama on Monday evening.

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PSG Stal Nysa achieved a 3-1 (25-17, 25-10, 22-25, 25-23) victory over Nowak-Mosty MKS Bedzin and improved to 25 points and a 7-19 win-loss record, just above the relegation zone of the current standings, in 13^th place. The team from Bedzin trails bottom in 16^th place on 12 and 3-23, and the 13-point distance between them can no longer be made up for over the remaining four legs to the end of the regular season. Stal’s outside hitter Michal Gierzot was on fire and led the way to victory with a match-high 27 points, including four aces and a kill block.

However, there are two other teams that can still catch up with Stal, and while for GKS Katowice the chances are slim to none, Barkom Kazhany Lviv are still in the running despite losing to PGE GiEK SKRA Belchatow on Monday. SKRA claimed a 3-2 (23-25, 25-21, 23-25, 25-23, 15-11) victory on the road and are very close to locking a spot in the playoffs. For Barkom Kazhany the loss of two points meant that they are now five below the red line, in 14^th place on 20 and 7-19. SKRA are seventh on 45 and 15-11, 11 points above the cut-off for the quarterfinals. Iranian opposite Amin Esmaeilnezhad led SKRA with 19 points, including three aces and two blocks, while the home team’s Australian outside Lorenzo Pope hammered out a match-high 27 points, including five aces and three blocks.

Meanwhile, GKS Katowice won their home match against Cuprum Stilon Gorzow Wielkopolski to stay mathematically alive, but on 14 and 5-21 in 15^th place, the likelihood of survival is very close to zero. GKS’s opposite Bartosz Gomulka also fired 27 points to top the charts in the nail-biting 3-2 (25-21, 30-32, 18-25, 25-23, 16-14) victory that left Curpum Stilon in 12^th place on 28 and 11-15.

Another five-setter opened the 26^th leg on Friday. Asseco Resovia Rzeszow produced a 3-2 (22-25, 25-19, 25-17, 21-25, 21-19) home victory over Trefl Gdansk after an epic tie-breaker. After contributing as many as six aces towards Resovia’s success, French opposite Stephen Boyer topped the match charts with a total of 31 points. Standing sixth on 48 and 15-11, Resovia are very close to stamping their ticket to the quarterfinals. Trefl are in 11^th place on 32 and 10-16.

In the remaining four matches, the favourites took their three points, and that resulted in BOGDANKA LUK Lublin overtaking ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle to reclaim the fourth place in the standings, while both teams secured their top-eight finish and joined already qualified Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj, Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie and PGE Projekt Warsaw into the quarterfinals.

Led by outside Tomasz Fornal with 15 points in the big clash of the leg, defending champions Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj mastered a 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-19) shutout of ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle. ZAKSA’s star opposite and captain Bartosz Kurek also finished with 15 points for the visitors. Jastrzebski Wegiel consolidated in first place on 66 and 21-5. ZAKSA dropped to fifth on 52 and 18-7 with a game in hand.

BOGDANKA LUK Lublin took advantage of ZAKSA’s setback to climb back up to fourth on 54 and 18-8 after a 3-1 (25-19, 17-25, 25-21, 25-20) home win over Steam Hemarpol Norwid Czestochowa. Lublin’s outside Mikolaj Sawicki emerged as the best scorer of the match with 19 points, including three aces and two blocks. This way, Norwid’s negative streak was extended to six consecutive matches, including their Puchar Polski quarterfinal loss at BOGDANKA earlier last week. However, they are still within the playoff zone, in eighth place on 37 and 13-13.

Ninth-placed Indykpol AZS Olsztyn did not take advantage of the opportunity to close the three-point gap as they lost their away game at PGE Projekt Warsaw and remained on 34 and 10-15, with a game in hand. The squad from the capital celebrated a 3-1 (25-23, 22-25, 25-13, 25-19) victory with a 17-point match high from opposite Bartlomiej Boladz and improved to 26 and 22-4 in third place.

Second-placed Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie also allowed no room for surprises in their home game against Slepsk Malow Suwalki and improved to 61 and 20-6 after a 3-0 (25-17, 25-15, 25-19) sweep. Slepsk Malow are still well within reach of the playoffs, in 10^th place on 33 and 12-14. With three aces, three kill blocks and eight successful spikes to his name, Aluron’s opposite Karol Butryn emerged as the top scorer of the match.

PlusLiga action will resume on Thursday, February 27, with an 18^th-leg fixture between ZAKSA and Indykpol. The matches of the 27^th leg will follow from Friday to Monday.

PlusLiga 2024-2025 18th leg:
Feb 27, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle v Indykpol AZS Olsztyn

PlusLiga 2024-2025 27th leg:
Feb 28, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): PGE Projekt Warsaw v Cuprum Stilon Gorzow Wielkopolski
Feb 28, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): Slepsk Malow Suwalki v Barkom Kazhany Lviv
Mar 01, 12:30 local (11:30 UTC): Nowak-Mosty MKS Bedzin v Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj
Mar 01, 14:45 local (13:45 UTC): PGE GiEK SKRA Belchatow v Asseco Resovia Rzeszow
Mar 01, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): PSG Stal Nysa v BOGDANKA LUK Lublin
Mar 02, 14:45 local (13:45 UTC): ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle v Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie
Mar 02, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): Trefl Gdansk v GKS Katowice
Mar 03, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): Indykpol AZS Olsztyn v Steam Hemarpol Norwid Czestochowa

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