In many ways this season was the most difficult for the players in Poland. New way of playing added some extra games which leaded to many injuries and influenced in the negative way on the level of the game.
It was also another great season for Skra Bełchatów and a successful time for ZAKSA Kędzierzyn Koźle.
It was a great season for youngsters of Skra Belchatow: libero Paweł Zatorski and attacker Bartosz Kurek. They both had major input in their team’s success, having a great support in experienced Miguel Angel Falasca and Stephane Antiga. Also for the most important games of the season Mariusz Wlazły proved once again his value on the court. The whole team from Bełchatów showed effective and efficient volleyball, claiming their supremacy in Poland for the next year. The question comes how come one team can be so successful in the country where volleyball is a kind of the religion for its fans. The answer seems to be really easy: Skra got perfect management, finance, logistics and organization and the players can concentrate only on… playing which they do with all the professional skills and fun.
The other winner of this year’s PlusLiga is ZAKSA Kędzierzyn Koźle. Team of famous Sebastian Świderski and Paweł Zagumny collected three silver medals. ZAKSA was the second team of both Cup and Championship of Poland just after phenomenal Skra Bełchatów and was one step from winning the CEV Cup. It was a good season for Zagumny and could have been also a good season for Świderski if he hadn’t had suffered from a major injury. ZAKSA got back to fighting for the most ambitious aims after years of silence. Now it seems silence is over, also at the hall because fans of the team from Kędzierzyn-Koźle showed their passion for volleyball creating an awesome show during the final games of PlusLiga.
Two other teams which made a bliss in this season are Tytan AZS Częstochowa and AZS Politechnika Warszawska. Both based on young players showed that not big money but big talent and will to fight make the team successful. Zbigniew Bartman and Michał Kubiak were collecting MVP titles in Warsaw, while Fabian Drzyzga showed his skills in Częstochowa.
The most unexpected success of this season was attitude of Jastrzębski Węgiel is this year’s Champions League. Team which was fighting in play-out managed to get some fresh air after getting a new coach, former legendary player Lorenzo Bernardi and made it to the Final Four. Guys of coach Bernardi took the 4th place but got a lot of experience which should help them to overcome most problems as soon as possible. Lukas Divis and Mitja Gasparini had a major input into this success.
