James Shaw joins Zaksa Kędzierzyn-Koźle. But he will not play as a setter, he will play as an opposite. He will replace Sławomir Jungiewicz, who is injured and season might be over for him.
This week in Plusliga started with a game between Aluron Virtu Warta Zawiercie and Chemik Bydgoszcz. It was a good chance for Warta to get back to 5th place(for now) and build an advantage over 7th place GKS Katowice in the standings. Chemik started their standard lineup, while Mark Lebedev surprised a bit, benched Bartosz Gawryszewski for the first time this season (replaced by Łukasz Swodczyk) and decided to start with Ferreira and Semeniuk, keeping Marcin Waliński as a sub. First set was going fairly well for Aluron, but they couldn’t increase their lead above 3 points. Finally, Chemik managed to equalize after Lipiński’s ace and the score was 20:20. Bociek answered with a good hit, followed it up with great service, which gave his team a successful counter, finished by Ferreira. Then Grzegorz added an ace and Zawiercie went up 23:20. But instead of easy win for home team, we saw quick comeback. One rally finished by Kovacevic, a block by Morozau and there was yet another draw. Bartosz Filipiak gave his team first set ball (25:24) with another ace, but followed it up with an error. Chemik didn’t waste their next chance, a block on Bociek finished the first set.
The second set was even closer than the previous one. Both teams had some leads, but neither of them could get ahead by more than 2 points. Once again, everyone watching knew the finish of this set had to be exciting when the score was 21:21. A missed spike by Kovacevic and Waliński’s (he replaced Ferreira) ace gave the home team 23:21 lead, but just like in the previous set, the score went back to even just a moment later, after Rejno’s spiking error. This time Aluron was the team with the first setball, Chemik was not giving up, but third time’s a charm and Kamil Semeniuk ended this set with a service ace.
Not a lot changed in the 3rd set. Once again both teams were fighting and not letting their opponents get ahead. This time the competition got more interesting earlier. Chemik was leading 12:10, but Waliński’s hit gave Zawiercie their 11th point, Bociek added 2 more aces to his name and continued to cause havoc with his service. Marcin Waliński scored with a spike and a block to give the home team a 15:12 lead. Lipiński answered with an ace of his own, but Semeniuk’s 2 blocks on Filipiak gave
The fourth set was very competitive until the score was 14:14. Three successful hits by Semeniuk (in a row) and Warta was leading 17:14. A few minutes later Grzegorz Bociek won long a rally for his team and the gap increased to 4 points (21:17), Zawiercie kept their lead and won the match 3:1. A solid game by Morozau (14 points, 4 blocks, 1 ace, 56% kills) and Lipiński (17 points, 1 block, 2 aces, 54% kills) was not enough to make up for average performances by Filipiak (15 points, 1 ace, 42% kills), Kovacevic (14 points, 1 block, 1 ace, 44% kills) and Szalacha (7 points, 4 blocks, 43% kills) and a tough game for their libero, Adam Kowalski (16 receptions, 19% positive, 0% perfect, 2 errors). Aluron was led by MVP Kamil Semeniuk (21 points, 3 blocks, 3 aces, 56% kills) and Grzegorz Bociek (21 points, 2 blocks, 4 aces, 54% kills), but
Two days later Cuprum Lubin was playing against GKS Katowice. No one expected an upset, especially after the first set was won by GKS without many problems. But in the following sets, Cuprum recovered well and improved, while the guests were struggling to pick up their pace mostly due to disappointing performances by their usual leaders, Karol Butryn and Tomas Rousseaux. All of that caused yet another surprise in Plusliga this season and Cuprum Lubin could celebrate their 5th victory and a chance to finally get away from the 12th position if other matches end well for them. Very solid Smith (16 points, 3 blocks, 45% kills, 69% positive reception) and Gruszczyński (21 receptions, 57% positive, 24% perfect, 1 error) gave a great base for success. One of the heroes was Jakub Ziobrowski (23 points, 5 blocks, 56% kills), who played a very good match and was close to getting MVP, which went to Masahiro Yanagida, who was more than solid in offense (55% kills), was okay in defense (40% positive and 25% perfect reception), but completely demolished his opponents with service (26 services, 3 aces, 5 errors) and it probably guaranteed him MVP award. GKS Katowice usually rely on Butryn and Rousseaux whenever they win. This time they both failed to impress. The polish opposite scored only 13 points (1 ace, 1 block, 11 spikes) with painfully average 39% kills (and only 11% efficiency), while the Belgian player scored 13 points too (3 blocks, 10 spikes), but ended the match with only 33% kills (10% efficiency) and terrible reception (39% positive, 6% perfect). Neither Depowski, nor Sobański could replace them, so GKS went back to Katowice without a point and slightly complicated their way to play-offs.
Later the same day TV crews were in Rzeszów, where Resovia was visited by Aluron Virtu Warta Zawiercie. This time Cretu decided to start with Kozub, Rossard, Schulz, Mika, Możdżonek, Smith and Masłowski, while Mark Lebedev started with
In the 3rd set and Aluron was leading 18:14 once again, even though moments earlier the score was 13:13. After Malinowski’s ace Aluron went up 22:17 and the first fans started to leave Podpromie. Damian Schulz gave his team an impulse to fight with his services and attacks and Resovia led by him almost equalized, but his charge was stopped in time (23:21) and Warta Zawiercie beat Asseco Resovia Rzeszów for the 2nd time this season. MVP went to Michał Masny, who played well, but it definitely should have gone to Mateusz Malinowski (23 points, 1 ace, 55% kills), who was absolute leader of his team in that match. Waliński (11 points, 1 block, 1 ace, 32% kills) didn’t impress this time, Semeniuk (13 points, 3 aces, 43% kills) was okay besides impressive service. It’s difficult to find any positives for Resovia after this match. Mateusz Mika looked okay in offense (17 points, 2 blocks, 1 ace, 54% kills), but he was bad in defense (26 receptions, 31% positive, 8% perfect and 6 errors). David Smith (10 points, 4 blocks, 67% kills) was
Next match? Indykpol AZS Olsztyn vs PGE Skra Bełchatów. This time the team with massive health problems was not AZS, but Skra. Not only were Mariusz Wlazły and Artur Szalpuk still recovering from their arm injuries, but this time they were joined by Milad Ebadipour, so Skra was playing without all of their starting wings. But it looked as if it was helping them to get back to a normal level during the first set because the reigning champions finished set with 74% kills (100% by Orczyk and 78% by Teppan) and gave Indykpol no chance. Everything was the same in 2nd set, Skra quickly got ahead and build solid lead. It all changed after Marcel Lux replaced Serhiy Kapelus, when score was 18:13. That’s when players from Bełchatów started to calm down and go back to their usual level and AZS finally started to defend against guests’ spikes, won a few long rallies and first decreased the gap to just one point (20:19) and moments later equalized (21:21). After an intense battle (both teams had 6
Skra collapsed completely after losing this set and scored just 6 breakpoints (4 in 3rd, 2 in 4th) and had -2 point ratio (-1 in both) in following 2 sets, while Indykpol kept their high level and beat Skra second time this season. Very solid Lux (11 points, 1 block, 2 aces, 44% kills), Zniszczoł (11 points, 3 blocks, 2 aces, 50% kills) and Pietraszko (11 points, 3 blocks, 1 ace, 50% kills), very good Andringa (12 points, 1 block, 52% kills) and Hadrava (24 points, 3 blocks, 47% kills) were well organised by Paweł Woicki, who distributed the ball really well and was awarded with MVP award. Personally, I would give it to libero, Michał Żurek, who not only handled opponents services well (29 receptions, 52% positive, 28% perfect, 0 errors
The next game, between Onico Warszawa and Cerrad Czarni Radom, looked like the most exciting one, at least on paper. But Onico didn’t look good in Wrocław at the Polish Cup, while Czarni Radom failed to even compete with any of top teams whole season. Sadly, the match didn’t deliver and the home team easily won in 3 sets, outclassing Cerrad in every element. 54% positive reception, 11 blocks, 5 aces, and 54% kills by Onico, compared to 33% positive reception, 7 blocks, 1 ace, and 41% kills by Czarni says the story of this match. Once again Tomasz Fornal disappointed (6 points, 2 blocks, 25% kills), and Alen Pajenk was terrible (3 points, 1 ace, 25% kills, -3 ratio). Only Norbert Huber played well (7 points, 1 block, 86% kills) for Radom. Michał Filip kept his spot as a starting opposite and did okay (11 points, 1 block, 45% kills) considering how bad his teammates were in this game. Looking at Onico, Bartosz Kurek was good (13 points, 1 ace, 1 block, 52% kills), just like Bartosz Kwolek (13 points, 1 ace, 60% kills), while Piotr Łukasik didn’t impress in offense (7 points, 1 ace, 43% kills), but positively surprised in defense (60% positive and 33% perfect reception), Vigrass and Nowakowski (who replaced Wrona) did their job, but nothing more than that. Antoine Brizard added 6 points with his block, but the MVP went to Damian Wojtaszek, who defended a lot of spikes and added very good reception (83% positive and 33% perfect).
The last day had 2 more matches. First came Chemik Bydgoszcz vs Trefl Gdańsk. Both teams were back to full fitness. But it was another one-sided game, won by Trefl. Chemik played really well in
The final match was between Jastrzębski Węgiel and MKS Będzin. It went just like expected, Jastrzębski won easily 3:0. Even without their best player this season, Julien Lyneel, they had no problems beating the worst team in the league. Fromm was finally good (11 points, 3 aces, 57% kills) and Konarski (15 points, 2 blocks, 62% kills), supported nicely by Ferens (7 points, 47% kills), Gunia (7 points, 2 blocks, 83% kills), Kosok (8 points, 3 blocks, 1 ace, 57% kills) and Popiwczak (13 receptions, 46% positive, 23% perfect, 0 errors). MVP went to Lukas Kampa, who used good reception and distributed the ball really well. This time Lincoln Williams (8 points, 2 aces, 30% kills) failed to perform at his normal level, another bad game by middles (14 points, 4 blocks, 1 ace, 43% kills and only 19% spiking efficiency). Pretty good Tichacek, Buchowski (7 points, 1 block, 86% kills, but just 31% positive, 13% perfect reception with 3 errors) and Fornal (8 points, 47% kills and good reception)
Aluron Virtu Warta Zawiercie 3:1 Chemik Bydgoscz
25:27, 27:25, 26:24, 25:21
Warta: Swodczyk (4), Rejno (9), Ferreira (4), Bociek (17), Semeniuk (16), Masny (2), Taichiro (libero) and Waliński (9), Dosanjh, Andrzejewski (libero)
Chemik: Lipiński (14), Margarido (2), Kovacević (10), Szalacha (5), Filipiak (11), Morozau (11), Kowalski (libero) and Gryc, Lesiuk
MVP: Kamil Semeniuk
Cuprum Lubin 3:1 GKS Katowice
23:25, 25:18, 25:19, 25:19
Cuprum: Marcyniak, Boruch (7), Gorzkiewicz (3), L. Smith (16), Yanagida (15), Ziobrowki (24), Gruszczyński (libero) and Grobelny, Wachnik, Smoliński (7)
GKS: Krulicki (9), Butryn (13), Komenda, Rousseaux (13), Quiroga (4), Sobala (4), Mariański (libero) and Depowski (6), Kohut, Fijałek, Sobański (4)
MVP: Masahiro Yanagida
Asseco Resovia Rzeszów 0:3 Aluron Virtu Warta Zawiercie
21:25, 23:25, 22:25
Resovia: Kozub (1), Schulz (15), Rossard (2), Mika (17), Możdżonek (6), Smith (10), Masłowski (libero) and Szerszeń (2)
Warta: Waliński (11), Rejno (6), Malinowski (23), Gawryszewski (4), Semeniuk (13), Masny (2), Koga (libero)
MVP: Michał Masny
Indykpol AZS Olsztyn 3:1 PGE Skra Bełchatów
20:25, 36:34, 25:21, 25:15
AZS: Hadrava (24) , Andringa (12), Zniszczoł (11), Pietraszko (11), Kapelus (5), Woicki (3), Żurek (libero) and Lux (11), Kańczok, Warda
Skra: Teppan (20), Kochanowski (14), Orczyk (12), Kłos (14), Katić (8), Łomacz (2), Piechocki (libero) and Wlazły, Droszyński, Milczarek (libero)
MVP: Paweł Woicki
Onico Warszawa 3:0 Cerrad Czarni Radom
25:21, 25:19, 25:16
Onico: Kwolek (13), Brizard (6), Vigrass (7), Łukasik (7), Kurek (13), Nowakowski (5), Wojtaszek (libero) and Janikowski, Araujo (3)
Czarni: Pajenk (3), Żaliński (6), Vincić (1), Filip (11), Huber (7), Fornal (6), Ruciak (libero) and Kwasowski (1), Giger, Wasilewski (libero), Rybicki, Ostrowski (1)
MVP: Damian Wojtaszek
Chemik Bydgoszcz 0:3 Trefl Gdańsk
17:25, 24:26, 21:25
Chemik: Lipiński (5), Margarido, Kovacević (9), Szalacha (11), Filipiak (13), Morozau (4), Kowalski (libero) and Gryc, Lesiuk
Trefl: Nowakowski (8), Janusz (2), Niemiec (4), Mijailović (7), Muzaj (23), Schott (11), Olenderek (libero) and Jakubiszak, Hebda (1), Kozłowski
MVP: Maciej Muzaj
Jastrzębski Węgiel 3:0 MKS Będzin
25:17, 25:20, 25:21
JW: Fromm (11), Kosok (8), Konarski (15), Gunia (7), Kampa (1), Ferens (7), Popiwczak (libero) and Bucki (1), Wolański, Szewd (1)
MKS: Ratajczak (7), Grzechnik (7), Langlois, Williams (8), Buchowski (7), Tichacek (2) Potera (libero) and Fornal (8), Peszko (1), Faryna (3), Gregorowicz
MVP: Lukas Kampa
Standings:
- Zaksa Kędzierzyn-Koźle 14 Games, 14 wins – 0 loses, 41 points
- Onico Warszawa 16G, 12W-4L, 35p
- Jastrzębski Węgiel 15G, 11W-4L, 34p
- Aluron Virtu Warta Zawiercie 17G, 11W-6L, 30p
- Cerrad Czarni Radom 16G, 10W-6L, 29p
- PGE Skra Bełchatów 15G, 8W-7L, 24p
- GKS Katowice 17G, 8W-9L, 24p
- Indykpol AZS Olsztyn 16G, 6W-10L, 21p
- Trefl Gdańsk 14G, 6W-8L, 18p
- Chemik Bydgoszcz 17G, 5W-12L, 16p
- Cuprum Lubin 16G, 5W-11L, 14p
- Asseco Resovia Rzeszów 15G, 4W-11L, 14p
- MKS Będzin 16G, 1W-15L, 6p
Top scorer:
- Karol Butryn -312
- Maciej Muzaj – 305
- Jan Hadrava – 301
Most aces:
- Bartosz Kwolek – 34
- Jan Hadrava – 34
- Karol Butryn – 33
Most blocks:
- Maxim Morozau – 44
- Grzegorz Kosok – 42
- Andrzej Wrona, Michał Szalacha – 40
Most positive reception:
- Paweł Zatorski – 57%
- Rafał Szymura – 56%
- Sam Deroo – 53%
Next matches (starting this tuesday):
05.02 – MKS Będzin vs Asseco Resovia Rzeszów
06.02 – GKS Katowice vs Onico Warszawa
06.02 – Zaksa Kędzierzyn-Koźle vs Indykpol AZS Olsztyn
06.02 – PGE Skra Bełchatów vs Jastrzębski Węgiel
07.02 – Cerrad Czarni Radom vs Aluron Virtu Warta Zawiercie