JWSport Jacek Waszak – Sport journalist
ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle again the best in Europe! Jastrzębski Węgiel lost in tie-break Group Azoty ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle – Jastrzębski Węgiel 3:2 (26:28, 25:22, 25:14, 28:30, 15:12)
In the volleyball Champions League final, Grupa Azoty ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle defeated Jastrzębski Węgiel 3:2. The team from Kędzierzyn-Koźle avenged their rivals’ defeat in the PlusLiga final and won the most important club competition in Europe for the third time in a row. The final match was played at the Pala Alpitour in Turin.
It was the first ever Polish final of the volleyball Champions League. The two teams played each other on Saturday for the eighth and final time this season.
The Kędzierzyn team won the last two editions of the Champions League , but in May they were dethroned by the team from Jastrzębie-Zdrój in the domestic ‘backyard’, losing the final play-off competition of the ekstraklasa 0-3 in matches.
Jastrzębski Węgiel began by winning the first set 28:26, the next two were lost to 22 and 14. However, they rose after a very weak third game and in the fourth they won 30:28. The tie-break decided everything. In the tie-break Kędzierzyn’s players were better, winning 15:12 and claiming the title of the best club team in Europe for the third time in a row.
In the first set, the Kędzierzyn team had to fight back all the time. When they were losing 21:24, it seemed that a change of sides was about to happen. Meanwhile, they “pulled out” the result, and after Aleksander Sliwka’s “ace” they even led at 26:25. Mendez’s team kept more cold blood in the end. Reserve Rafal Szymura scored with a forehand, and immediately afterwards Bartos Bednorz made a mistake in the attack on the other side of the net.
Unfortunately there was a knockout in the third set . This is the ZAKSA that we know and the breakdown of Jastrzębski Węgiel is incredible. Their game has gone completely haywire. You can’t put ZAKSA out anymore, she’s alive and it’s the rival who has to come to her level. We will see if Jastrzębski will try to react. The players are sad, suspended, not even nervous. What their playmakers are doing is a drama,” added Polsat commentators midway through the third set. ZAKSA dominated in it.
Łukasz Kaczmarek returned to the game in amazing style. It was him who showed off in a spectacular way with a single block on Boyer at 13:8. The same player attacked brilliantly from the right wing, and after a moment he had an ace and ZAKSA was leading already at 18:11. Kaczmarek did not stop at that, however, and served in such a way that he left the game at 23:11, and his team had as many as eight blocks in that pair! Nothing was helped by the changes made by Jastrzębski coach Marcelo Mendez. So ZAKSA had already won two sets in the final, one more than in the three previous PlusLiga final matches.
In the deciding game, Aleksander Sliwka again played first fiddle, with whom Tomasz Fornal of Jastrzębski Węgiel competed for the title of hero. In the end, the Polish vice-champions won 15:12 and became the best team in Europe for the third time in a row.
ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle made history in this competition. For it joined CSKA Moscow, Trentino and Zenit Kazan to win the Champions League for the third time in a row. Two years ago it was the best in Verona, a year ago in Ljubljana and now in Turin.
Grupa Azoty ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle – Jastrzębski Węgiel 3:2 (26:28, 25:22, 25:14, 28:30, 15:12)
ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle : Janusz 2 points, Kaczmarek 15, Smth 13, Huber 8, Śliwka 19, Bednorz 23, Shoji (libero) and Stępień, Kluth, Paszycki 1,
Jastrzębski Węgiel : Toniutti, Boyer 20, M’Baye 8, Gladyr 11, Clevenot 18, Fornal, Popiwczak (libero) and Tervaporti, Hadrava 3, Szymura 3.
