Lotos Trefl Gdansk and Asseco Resovia Rzeszow will fight for the Cup of Poland in a clash of the giants on Sunday afternoon. Both teams secured their place in the final defeating PGE Skra Belchatow and Jastrzebski Wegiel.
The first semifinal played between the hosts Lotos Trefl Gdansk and PGE Skra Belchatow was already the seventh time when both teams met during this season. They knew each other very well recently competing also in the play-off of the Plus Liga. – We are no longer the favourite – said the coach of Skra, Miguel Angel Falasca a day before the semifinal game. His words became the reality when Anastasi’s team eliminated them from the big final winning 3:1. With over 70% efficiency in the reception, the libero of Lotos, Piotr Gacek was definitely the key to their success. Spectators in Ergo Arena saw thrilling fourth set with the luckier end for Lotos Trefl Gdansk who secured the final after an ace sent by Murphy Troy.
– We are extremely happy that we won again with the team from Belchatow after a very difficult game – said the captain of Lotos, Bartosz Gawryszewski. – We are in the final of the Polish Cup and I hope nobody says again that it’s an accident that we are in the final of the Polish League. Now we are concentrating on the big final against Resovia.
In a lot less optimistic mood was the captain of PGE Skra Belchatow, Mariusz Wlazly who in a very short words congratulated the team from Gdansk. – We wish them all the best in the final – said the Polish opposite.
The second battle had a theoretically clearer favourite in Asseco Resovia Rzeszow. However Jastrzebski Wegiel won the first set against potentially stronger opponent 25:19. The second set wasn’t as easy as the first part of the game, Resovia took the lead 16:13, increasing it quickly to 19:15. Jastrzebski tried to fight back but doesn’t matter which figures were taken into account, Resovia was playing at a much higher level than Jastrzebski. The final result was also 3:1 but it can easily be said that Jastrzebski didn’t show their best.
– All the games we had played against Rzeszow this season we lost. In my opinion they are much better team than us. We tried to play our best but we didn’t deliver great counterattack and they used it against us – said the italian coach of Jastrzebski Wegiel, Roberto Piazza.
– It was a difficult game for us – confirmed the coach of Asseco Resovia Rzeszow, Andrzej Kowal. – We won all games against them 3:1 but each of them had its own history. We have started tonight with less aggression and we couldn’t secure the first set.
The big final will take place in Ergo Arena on Sunday at 1:30pm local time.
Semifinals:
PGE Skra Bełchatów – Lotos Trefl Gdańsk 1:3
(20:25, 23:25, 27:25, 22:25
Asseco Resovia Rzeszów – Jastrzębski Węgiel 3:1
(19:25, 25:18, 25:20, 25:22)
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