Jastrzebski Wegiel off to the #SuperFinalsTurin

Jastrzebski Wegiel wrote a brand-new page in their club history, and in the history of European Volleyball as well, reaching for a first time ever the match for the title in Europe’s top competition - the CEV Champions League Volleyball Men. The Polish, who started their journey in this year’s edition of the competition in Pool A, lost at 2-3 in the second semi-final match against their opponents from Halkbank Ankara, but thanks to an excellent performance in the home match (3-1), winning two sets this Wednesday was enough for Tomasz Fornal and his teammates to proceed ahead.

More than 40 journalists and photographer covered the game on Wednesday between Jastrzebski Wegiel and Halkbank Ankara. 

The home favourites started off in an excellent way, taking the first set. However, the Turkish team got back on their feet and claimed the next two sets, so the fourth set turned out to be one worth qualifying for the Super Finals on May 20. The players guided by head coach Marcelo Mendez found the strength to emerge victorious from it, thus booking their tickets to the title deciding match. More than 3000 fans in the Sports and Entertainment Hall in Jastrzębie-Zdrój enjoyed the accomplishment of the Wegiel team. 

Halkbank, on the other hand, recorded a bitter-sweet victory, that marked the end of their journey in #CLVolleyM this year. 

Overall, the host team finished better on attack (57 to 48 winning spikes) and on the blocking (11 to seven). Both teams recorded six aces apiece. Jastrzebski, however, let more error affect their game - 34 to 21. 

Thomas Jaeschke of Halkbank topped the charts with 22 points to his name, while MVP of the game - Tomasz Fornal, finished with 18.

Now, Jastrzebski are waiting to understand the name of their opponents for the #CLVolleyM trophy as on Thursday the back-to-back champions from Grupa Azoty Kedzierzyn-Kozle face Sir Sicoma Monini Perugia in a rematch. In case that Grupa Azoty win two sets as well, the #SuperFinalsTurin will be “a battlefield” for the two Polish Giants. 

This will be the third final in international Volleyball competitions for Jastrzębski Węgiel. In the 2008/2009 season, the team led by coach Roberto Santilli played in the final of the Challenge Cup held in Izmir, but failed to win this trophy, losing to the hosts of Arkas Izmir. Two years later, the Jastrzębie club took part in the Club World Championship in Doha, Qatar. After defeating the Brazilian champions SESI Sao Paulo 3-2 in the semi-finals, the players of coach Lorenzo Bernardi failed to against the then Italian club-power Trentino BetClic 1-3 in the final.