PGE Projekt Warszawa takes full advantage of the fact that it avoided teams from Italy or Turkey in this year's Champions League group. The third team of last season's PlusLiga won three times in the first three matches of group A and entered Tuesday's match against ACH Volley Ljubljana at Torwar in Warsaw with nine points.
A project without mercy in the Champions League. The quarterfinals are getting closer
Projekt entered the match better, although it was not afraid of mistakes, but it had the initiative from the very beginning in the clash with its rival from Slovenia. In the middle of the set, the hosts were even leading 14:10, but then the volleyball players from Ljubljana began to effectively make up for the losses.
A service ace by the visiting setter Mikko Esko put the Slovenians in touch (19:18), which also led to an exciting ending. After a while, Klemen Sen's attack from the passing ball resulted in a draw at 20 and forced Piotr Graban to take a time-out. This brought results, because after the guests' service was broken, Linus Weber sent the ace to the other end and Projekt again had a two-point advantage (22:20). Artur Szalpuk's attack gave the hosts two set points (24:22) and the same volleyball player successfully nodded on the second one, ending the set with a score of 25:23.
In the second game, Projekt quickly beat his opponent. After a block by Tobias Brand, it was 5:2 for the hosts, later the same volleyball player added a service ace, and his compatriot Linus Weber added a counterattack to make it 8:3. Further point blocks of the Project on visiting players, including: Klemen Sen, the Slovenian coach, already asked for a second time when the score was 11:4 for the Warsaw team.
It didn't help, and neither did changes in the visiting team. The advantage of the Polish team only grew. After Alena Sket's triple block, the score was 18:8. There was no emotion in this set. Another block by Sketa ended it with a score of 25:13 for the hosts.
The Project's two-point advantage remained for half of the third set. But when Tobias Brand went to serve at 12:10, he quickly served an ace, and after another mistake by the Slovenian rivals, the hosts were already leading by four points (14:10). Shortly thereafter, Project's advantage was as much as six points (18:12, 21:15), and there was no question of a fierce fight. The most impressive defenses were made by the hosts' reserve libero – Jędrzej Gruszczyński. The match ended with a powerful block from the Warsaw team on Luca Marovta – Projekt won the third set 25:17, and the whole match probably 3:0.
After four rounds of the Champions League group stage, PGE Projekt Warszawa has four wins and twelve points, thanks to which it is leading in the table of Group A. A victory in it would directly advance to the quarterfinals of the elite competition. In the next Champions League match, Piotr Graban's volleyball players will play away against Belgian Greenyard Maaseik on January 15.
PGE Projekt Warszawa – Ah Volley Ljubljana 3:0 (25:23, 25:13, 25:17)
Design: Firlej, Szalpuk, Kochanowski, Weber, Brand, Semeniuk, Wojtaszek (libero) and Gruszczyński (libero), Borkowski, Bołądź, Kozłowski.
ACH: Esko, Stalekar, Jo.Krzić, Pokersnik, Golzadeh, Marovt, Kovacić (libero) and Sen, Najdić, Sket, Ja. Circulate.