Jastrzębski Węgiel volleyball team triumphed over Group Azoty Zaksą Kędzierzyn-Koźle with a 3:1 victory in the opponent’s hall, concluding the first round of PlusLiga competition in the leader’s chair. “It’s enjoyable, but I never make it a goal,” said the middle blocker of the ‘Orange’ team, Jurij Gladyr.
“We remember that after the second part of the regular phase, the playoffs await us. It has its own rules. Of course, it’s best to enter these games from the highest position on the table, but we’re not thinking about that now. We focus on each upcoming match. Today’s match was very tough, but we managed to win it for three points. That’s why we’re very happy,” said Jurij Gladyr. He added that lately, the Jastrzębie team hasn’t been playing beautifully but effectively.
Jastrzębski Węgiel defeats ZAKSA
The offensive player of the champion team of Poland, Jean Patry, admitted that he is satisfied with the first part of the league season:
“Today we played great, but it must be acknowledged that the opponent also showed very good volleyball.”
Patry admitted that he and his teammates were somewhat surprised by how the Kędzierzyn players presented themselves at the beginning of the game, especially when it came to defense and blocking.
“In the end, we managed to find a solution to attack more effectively. Our services started to work out great. It’s nice to win such a match,” added the Frenchman.
2390 spectators watched the intense match in the “Azoty” hall. ZAKSA won the first set 25:23, but the next two were secured by the Polish champions 25:22 and 25:22. In the fourth set, with a score of 23:23, Bartosz Bednorz sent the ball out. The Jastrzębian team failed to capitalize on the first match point, and the fate of the set (and the match, as it turned out) was decided by a short tiebreaker. When the score was 25:24 for the guests, Patry scored a point with a block. Norbert Huber (Jastrzębski Węgiel) was chosen as the MVP of the match.
📈 15 meczów, 39 punktów. 13 zwycięstw, 2 porażki. I co warte podkreślenia, aż 9 meczów w tej rundzie na wyjeździe i to na wielu "ciężkich terenach"😉 Dlatego tym bardziej: good job!👌 pic.twitter.com/vvdGcy0ekb
— Jastrzębski Węgiel (@KlubJW) January 6, 2024
After the match, ZAKSA player Łukasz Kaczmarek noted that it was the second game in which it became apparent that the team is performing better.
“It’s a shame that we lost because, just like in the match with Aluron (1:3), we played very ambitiously, and we didn’t earn a single point for the table. However, there’s no denying that the Jastrzębian team deserved to win,” he emphasized.
In the previous season, the Kędzierzyn team competed with the Jastrzębski team in both the PlusLiga playoff finals and the Champions League final match. Jastrzębski Węgiel managed to win the Polish championship title by winning 3-0 in the rivalry. However, in Turin, ZAKSA won 3:2 and became the best team in Europe for the third consecutive time.”