On Wednesday, April 30th (local time), the first match of the Polish Przyliga PO final between Zawiercze and Lublin took place, with Lublin winning the first match by defeating Zawiercze 0-3 (21-25, 22-25, 21-25). The final will be played in a best-of-three format.
Zabierce finished the regular season in third place, using their powerful serves as a weapon, and in the quarterfinals they won two straight games against Rzeszow, and in the semifinals they beat Warsaw 2-1 in full sets, all of which led to them reaching the finals. This season they have had good results, winning the Super Cup and coming in second in the Polish Cup, and are aiming for their long-awaited first league title. Their players include Poland national team player MB Mateusz Bieniek and US national team player Aaron Russell, who played in Japan until last season.
Lublin is also a team that relies on their powerful serves. After finishing 4th in the regular season, they defeated Kedzierzyn Kozile, led by Bartosz Kurek, who is well known in Japan, 2-1 in the quarterfinals, and then defeated Jastrziebinski Wenger, who were the regular season leader and also won the Polish Cup, 2-1 in the semifinals to advance to their first final. Lublin won the CEV Challenge Cup this season, beating Civitanova of Italy. Players on the team include Poland's OH Wilfredo Leon and Brazil's libero, Thales Oss.
The match, held at Zabierce's home stadium, was a huge success, with all 3,000 seats quickly sold out and over 200 additional temporary seats and standing tickets being sold.
However, Zabierce was benched due to an injury sustained by OP Butolin, the team's main scorer, in the third game of the semi-finals. Instead, reserve OP Ensin took over as starter. However, with the change from a Pole to an American, due to league rules that only allow three foreign players to play at the same time and team circumstances, OH Russell could no longer play as a starter.
In the first set, OH Waba, who replaced OH Russell, had a service ace and OH Kuforek's spike gave Zabierce a 6-2 lead. After that, Lublin turned the game around with a 9-11 lead thanks to a service ace from OH Sawicki and OH Leon. From there, Zabierce caught up with 13-13 thanks to a block from OH Kuforek, and the score remained the same, going 18-18. However, OH Sawicki scored consecutive spikes to make it 18-20, and in the final stages, MB Grozdanov's block and OH Sawicki's service ace scored consecutive breaks, giving Lublin a 21-25 win.
The second set was a close one at the beginning, with OH Kuforek for Zabierce and OH Leon for Lublin scoring to get the score to 11-11. From there, Lublin took the lead at 11-14 with some blocks from MB McCarthy, but Zabierce managed to turn the game around with some spikes and blocks from OH Waba to get the score to 20-19. However, Lublin had the first set point with a service ace from OH Leon at 20-21, and then another service ace from MB McCarthy at 21-24, but finally Lublin took the set with a service error from Zabierce at 22-25.
In the third set, Xabierce took an early 8-5 lead with aces from S. Tavares and OH Kuforek, but Lublin continued to make mistakes, widening the gap to 11-6. Xabierce continued to maintain the lead, leading to 17-13. However, Lublin made five consecutive breaks from OH Leon's serve, including aces, to turn the game around and take the lead to 17-19. OH Leon then scored two consecutive attacks to take the set, 21-25, and Lublin won 0-3 against Xabierce.
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The MVP was OH Sawicki. He had the most points of both teams with 20 points (15 attacks, 3 serves, 2 blocks) and an attack efficiency rate of 56%, showing an overwhelming performance. Like Japan's OH Kai, he is known for his powerful serves that he hits while running, but in this match, his attacks, which were well-mixed with feints, were very effective and prevented Xavier Che's defense from responding.
Not only him, but Lublin's serves were very effective (Lublin had 9 aces, Zabierce had 5), and Lublin also scored more points from blocks (Lublin had 8 blocks, Zabierce had 5). In particular, OH Leon's five consecutive breaks from serve in the third set were impressive. OH Leon scored aces when he really needed them. Amazing. Incidentally, he scored his 81st ace of the season in this match, breaking the league record.
Lublin's serve reception success rate was not very high (Lublin 36%, Zabierce 34%), but the high success rate of high ball attacks by the three wings, OH Sawicki, OH Leon, and OP Sasak, was high, so it was not much of a problem. In particular, in the second set, their serve reception success rate was 20%, while their attack effectiveness rate was 60%, which is an impossible figure.
Xavierce, who lost the match, also wanted to put pressure on his opponents with serve and block like Lublin, but his opponents were superior. The absence of OP Butrin and OH Russell was especially noticeable in the high ball attack scenes. He wanted to take the third set, which he was leading until the middle, but he was defeated by OH Leon's serve.
The match between the two will be decided by whoever wins the serve battle. Incidentally, OP Butolin will be on the injured list for Xabierce, and German national team legend OP Grosser will be added to the list. His addition will be a big deal, but the foreign player quota issue remains, so it is expected that OH Russell will continue to be unable to play. It remains a tough situation for Xabierce.
Will Lublin continue on this momentum and push through, or will Zabierce try to make a comeback? Who will take home their first victory?
Upcoming matches (Japan time)
Round 2: Saturday, May 3rd, 21:45
Round 3: Wednesday, May 7th 27:30
Both can be viewed on VBTV
Photo: TOSHIKI, plusliga.pl
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