Jastrzebski Wegiel’s Path to the SuperFinals Turin 2023
Preview
A first time CEV Champions League Volley Finalist, Jastrzebski Wegiel has built on their previous impressive European campaign, when they reached the semifinals, and look well equipped to surprise everyone in this year’s SuperFinals.
The Polish side started the Champions League season extremely strong, becoming one of the first teams to secure a spot in the quarterfinals, after winning all their matches in Pool A, and dropping only two sets along the way. The only other team to manage a perfect pool phase points tally was Italy’s Sir Sicoma Monini Perugia.
In the quarterfinals, they had to face the Germans from VfB Friedrichshafen, a team that won the playoff matchup against Tours VB from France. Against the Germans, Jastrzebski Wegiel put out one of the most impressive displays of volleyball seen in any matchup this season, winning both encounters in straight-sets, allowing their opponents to reach the 20 points mark in a set only once.
The semifinals were never going to be that smooth sailing for Stephen Boyer, Tomasz Fornal and the rest of their team, as they were to face a solid HalkBank Ankara team whose Dutch superstar, Nimir Abdel-Aziz was in fine form. However, the Polish side managed to maintain a level of control in their performance and not allowing the opponent to get to close to endanger their path to the SuperFinals.
A win away from home and good work to secure the two sets they needed on home court meant that Jastrzebski Wegiel had then become a first time finalist, setting an absolute thrilling encounter with fellow domestic rivals and back to back reigning champions, Zaksa Kędzierzyn-Koźle.