Next up was Warsaw vs. Bełchatow.
Warsaw, who finished the regular season in second place, is a team that boasts a good balance of offense and defense and a deep player pool. This season, the performance of Polish national team players MB Kochanowski, OP Bołącz, and OH Szabuk has been particularly notable.
For 7th-placed Belhatov, the key to victory will depend on how veteran Polish player S. Womachi can handle foreign attackers such as Iran's OP Amin and Serbia's OH Kujundzic, who have been somewhat inconsistent.
I was there on-site so I'll go into more detail here.
In the first set, Warsaw scored points from various players from the beginning, while Bełchatów scored points mainly through OP Amin and OH Kuyundzic. OH Szarbuk's block on MB Semeniuk's serve temporarily put Warsaw ahead at 11-8, but S Womacz's powerful serve allowed Bełchatów to score consecutive points and catch up at 15-15. From there, they fought for side-outs, but OP Wółbč ended a long rally with a spike and Warsaw took the lead at 23-21. Finally, OH Szarbuk scored the winning goal, and Warsaw took the set 25-23 (by the way, neither team made any attack mistakes in this set!).
In the second set, Warsaw took an early 7-3 lead with service aces from OH Szarbuk and MB Kochanowski. After that, Bełchatów struggled with Warsaw's serves but continued to score with OP Amin and OH Peric. However, Warsaw also managed to keep the lead with OH Szarbuk and others scoring side-outs, and continued to advance to 23-19. From there, Bełchatów succeeded in breaking twice with OP Amin's spike, closing in on the lead at 24-23, but OH Szarbuk closed it out again and Warsaw took the set 25-23.
In the third set, Bełchatow took a 3-6 lead thanks to a block from S. Womachi. In the middle of the set, an ace from MB Lemainski and a block from S. Womachi allowed Bełchatow to break and extend the lead to 10-15. However, an ace from S. Firley's serve and a spike from OH Brand brought Warsaw within one point at 14-15, and in the final stages, a block from MB Semeniuk stopped OP Amin to tie the score at 20-20. Still, an OP Amin spike put Bełchatow first on set point at 23-24, but OP Weber, who entered the game as a substitute, managed to score from a rally to bring the game to deuce. Then, at 25-25, OH Szarbuk scored an ace to put Warsaw in front for the first time in the set at 26-25, and immediately afterwards OH Szarbuk scored an ace to win the set at 27-25, giving Warsaw a 3-0 victory.
OH Shalpuk had an overwhelming performance. He scored the most points of both teams with 22, had an attack effectiveness rate of 691 TP3T (zero lost points in attacks!), 3 aces, and 1 block. He was the MVP, of course. He scored all the set points, and his consecutive service aces at deuce in the third set were amazing.
Szabuk usually plays with a lot of emotion (hence the many complaints he makes to the referee lol), but on this day, his actions were bigger than usual, and he seemed to have a lot of soul. This may be a sign that he has become more determined to play in the remaining league and the Polish Cup after losing to Halkbank in the quarterfinals of the European Champions League.
When I asked him about his amazing performance, he answered simply, "The most important thing is the team's victory, not my personal performance." I think this mindset is permeated throughout the team, as OH Brandt, who was previously on the same team, gave a similar answer. His altruistic feeling of "for the team" probably brought out the best in him.
On the other hand, Bełchatov lost in straight sets, but the difference in strength between the two players seemed smaller than the set count would suggest. There was only a two-point difference in each set, and the difference was really small, with one mistake and one block. In particular, Bełchatov struggled with serve reception, so it would be good if he could fix this and not let his opponent score an ace, while also being able to use more quick shots. S. Womachi is a setter who can use the middle shots a lot even during rallies, so it will be interesting to see that happen.
By the way, Warsaw won, but OH Tylie was registered as libero for this match. I heard that he is still unable to jump because he sustained an injury in a match towards the end of the regular season. However, he seems to be preparing to be ready for the Polish Cup in mid-April. I hope he can keep his word.
WARSAW - BELUCHATOW
3-0 (25-23, 25-23, 27-25)
MVP: OH Sharpuk
Detailed Stats
Photo: PlusLiga.pl
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