It's been a while since I wrote an article about the Polish league. It's not that I haven't been able to watch any games since my last article, but I didn't force myself to write a blog properly, and that's why it ended up like this. It's really important to make it a habit.
Well, last weekend, the 12th round was held, one more round before the halfway point. The Polish league has not yet been affected by the Omicron virus like Italy. Seita Sekita's Rubin played against the previous year's European champions, Zaksa Kędzierzynkośle (hereinafter Zaksa). I thought they would be completely beaten, but they put on a great game.
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Rubin puts up a good fight against Xaxa
Rubin, who is ranked 10th in the league with 3 wins and 8 losses, faced 1st place Saksa, who is undefeated with 12 wins. He lost only 5 sets in 12 matches, and continued to show great stability from last season when he was crowned European champion. With such a difference in strength, it was expected that the game would be very one-sided, but in a good way, it defied expectations.
From the first set, neither team gave in, with side-outs being used repeatedly. While Zaksa scattered the ball, Rubin's setter Sekita used MB Klage (Germany) to aggressively attack the center from the beginning. OH Ferens (Poland) and OP Kapitsa (Poland) also performed well that day. Kapitsa in particular had a great day, serving four aces. At the beginning of the league, the team relied heavily on OH's Walinski (Poland) and Ferens, but it seems that Kapitsa has grown significantly recently. It feels like we are finally seeing the growth of young players such as him and Klage.
Although they lost the first set by a narrow margin of two points, they continued to score in the second set, mainly through Ferens and Kapitsa, and with the help of the poor performance of Saksa's opening player Kaczmarek (Poland), they were able to take back the set. However, in the third and fourth sets, Krus (Poland), who replaced Kaczmarek, and Semeniuk (Poland) on the sideline scored points, giving Saksa a new lease of life and finally showing their true strength, winning 3-1 against Rubin.
Although Rubin lost in the end, I think it was a good game that will lead to the next one. He definitely looked to be improving. He didn't make any toss mistakes, which he had been making a few times before, and I think he's building a good relationship with his team. However, he was blocked too many times in the second half of the game. If Kapitsa can reduce the number of shutouts and connect them to rebounds, he will be a better opposite. He's been performing so well with his serves, so I hope he does his best with his spikes too!
Rubin's last game of the year is against Rzeszow at home on the 30th. They have a lot of national team players but they are struggling because they don't work well together, so they have a good chance of winning. But be careful of the blocks!
Results
Section 12
Friday, December 17
Belhatov - Katowice 3 - 1
(25-22, 19-25, 25-20, 25-16)
Saturday, December 18th
Rzeszów - Zawiercie 1 - 3
(15-25, 20-25, 25-18, 22-25)
Jastrzebski - Radom 3 - 0
(25-18, 25-9, 25-22)
Sunday, December 19
Warsaw - Olsztyn 3 - 2
(21-25, 25-14, 23-25, 25-14, 15-8)
Kendzienkozile - Rubin 3 - 1
(25-23, 22-25, 25-18, 25-19)
Gdansk - Suwalki 1 - 3
(26-28, 19-25, 25-20, 25-27)
Monday, December 20th
Lublin – Nysa 0 – 3
(30-32, 22-25, 22-25)
Nisa finally gets her first win of the season
Ranking
37 13-00 39/06 Kenjiejinkojire
32 10-03 34/11 Jastrzembuski
28 10-03 32/20 Warsaw
24 09-03 28/19 Xavierce
24 08-04 31/20 Belhatov
21 07-05 25/15 Olsztyn
16 05-07 20/22 Rzeszow
14 05-07 19/27 Lublin
13 04-08 17/24 Gdansk
12 03-09 18/29 Rubin (Sekita Masahiro)
11 04-08 17/29 Katowice
11 04-08 14/29 Radom
09 03-09 12/29 Suwalki
06 01-12 14/36 Nisa
Next schedule
Wednesday, December 29th
17:30 Lublin - Zawiercie
Thursday, December 30
17:30 Rubin - Rzeszow
20:30 Radom - Bełchatov
https://www.plusliga.pl/
Photo: PLPS
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