DevelopRes one step away from first Tauron Liga title

KS DevelopRes Rzeszów are just one win away from winning their first-ever Polish Women’s Tauron Liga title after they defeated ŁKS Commercecon Łódź on Friday in the second match of the Finals of the 2024-2025 edition on the tournament.

Leading the best-of-five series that will decide the Polish champions by 2-0, the team from Rzeszów need just one more victory to secure the title. That could happen as soon as Tuesday, when they will return home for the third match of the series.

• Watch the Polish Tauron Liga Finals live on VBTV

DevelopRes have been in the Finals of the Polish League in the last four seasons, but lost in each of them. They had never before, however, been able to build a two-match lead over their opponents as they did in 2024-2025.

The significant advantage was created on Friday, when, playing on the road, in Łódź, DevelopRes recovered from a first-set loss to come back and beat Commercecon 3-1 (23-25, 25-16, 25-21, 25-17), getting into a comfortable spot to secure the title.

Up-and-coming middle blocker Weronika Centka-Tietianiec was outstanding for DevelopRes, scoring 20 points (15 kills, four blocks, one ace) and receiving the match’s MVP award. The winning team also had the match’s top scorer in Brazilian opposite Sabrina Machado, who produced 22 points, with 18 kills and four blocks.

"We've been very focused on winning the title, and I think that showed in the first two matches," the 24-year-old Centka-Tietianiec said. "Even after losing the first set today, we were still very determined and we showed that despite the emotions, we can play good, steady volleyball. We ended this match playing very well, and I hope we can keep this level for the next one."

The only team to defeat DevelopRes in Polish volleyball in 2024-2025, which they did twice during the Tauron Liga regular season, Commercecon got 13 points (all in kills) from Ukrainian backup opposite Anastasiia Hryshchuk, while Polish Olympian outside hitter Natalia Mędrzyk added another 11.

"I think they were just better than us," Mędrzyk summarized. "We couldn't really stop them. We tried to serve as tough as we could, but they handled it well, and they deserve the credit for it. We played much better than we've been doing in the semifinals, and we've been able to get out of difficult seasons this season, so I hope we can do it again to give ourselves a chance. We'll need to significantly and I hope we can find a way to do it."

The third match of the series will be held on Tuesday, at 20:30 local time (18:30 GMT), in Rzeszów. If needed, matches four and five are scheduled for April 26, in Łódź, and April 30, in Rzeszów, respectively.

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