Magiera: Rzeszów on the throne with a double crown

The Polish champion was Dvelepres Rzeszów, which also won the Polish Cup, the Polish vice-champion was Łódzki Klub Sportowy Commercecon Łódź, and the bronze medals were won by PGE Grot Budowlani Łódź. No surprises, that's what most experts predicted - the same applies to the next places, although Kalisz's relegation was not expected by anyone, nor was Lotto Chemik Police's easy advancement to the play-offs, and we can certainly treat this as a league event, and at the same time a nice surprise.

There is no point in comparing or contrasting the league games of male and female volleyball players in our country, because it is difficult to find a common denominator for them and any kind of platform from which to start. I will not even mention the requirements for the players that these games entail, out of respect for discipline and broadly understood professionalism. When preparing this summary, I asked my colleagues from Polsat Sport, who commented on the league events on air, to nominate their MVP of the entire games and subjectively indicate the delights and disappointments of the season.

Let's start with the MVP of the season. There were three proposals - all of them concerned players from Developres Rzeszów - the winner was Monika Fedusio, who recently visited us in #7Strefa. The player herself admitted in the program that the team from Rzeszów was made up of strong characters, and the real leader was actually the entire team. And there is something to it, because depending on the situation, or the so-called form of the day, different players took the burden of the game on their shoulders, playing in different positions. Marrit Jasper played great in the finals, Katarzyna Wenerska led the last match brilliantly, the middles - Agnieszka Korneluk and Weronika Centka-Tietianiec - had their five minutes. But all in all, Monika Fedusio played the most evenly throughout the entire season and she receives the title of MVP of the 2024/25 season from us collectively.

Now the highlights of the season. The first one is for what Lotto Chemik Police did throughout the season, because if someone saw this team's performance in the Polish Super Cup match in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, they could have taken bets on the number of matches won - let's add, individual matches - by this team during the season. Ultimately, they managed to win quite a few and advance to the play-offs. At this point, applause for coach Dawid Michor and Martyna Grajber-Nowakowska, who had a colossal contribution to the final success of this project. Yes, yes, that's not a mistake, what happened with Chemik this season must be treated as a success.

In the category of enchantments, Sokół Mogilno also received a point – generally for the entirety of the almost uncontrolled joy of participating in the highest level of competition combined with the attitude of the club's fans that aroused great sympathy. Among the individual distinctions from our experts were two names – Julita Piasecka and Wiktoria Szewczyk. Indeed, both of them showed their dormant potential, and in the case of Szewczyk, their uncompromising nature and lack of any fear or concern about the responsibility resulting from running the game.

When it comes to disappointments, unfortunately almost all experts pointed out the large disparities in skills between the teams, which resulted in the games not being at their highest level overall. In addition, there were voices saying that the way coach Chiappini was parted ways or that the team from Opole did not advance to the play-offs was disappointing. In its own way, the final of the games was also disappointing, although on the other hand, we probably won't find anyone disappointed in Rzeszów.

By the way. After the last match at Podpromie, I had a short conversation with the president of Rzeszów, Konrad Fijołek, about the city, which has blossomed and become incredibly beautiful in recent years, and about the condition of Rzeszów sports. It's a pity that I didn't connect the historical dates for Rzeszów volleyball, namely on April 22, 2012, the Resovia volleyball players won the first championship after returning to the highest league, and now on April 22, the Developres volleyball players won their first historical title. Without hesitation, I would suggest to president Fijołek that at the next session of the Rzeszów city council he submit a motion to declare April 22 as Rzeszów Volleyball Day. I think that regardless of party affiliation and political sympathies, the motion would be accepted by acclamation.

And finally, a question, currently unanswered, but to which we will return on our pages in the portal, or in our current affairs programs. What next for women's volleyball games at the highest level of competition in our country? A valid and appropriate question, because we know that several top players will go to Turkey, some of the Polish players have already been there for some time, and as of today, the list of interested players looks as follows: Agnieszka Korneluk (Fenerbahce Istanbul), Martyna Łukasik (Galatasaray Istanbul), Magdalena Stysiak (Eczacibasi Istanbul), Julia Szczurkowska (Besiktas Istanbul), Martyna Czyrniańska (Kuzeyboru), Malwina Smarzek (Kuzeyboru), Weronika Centka-Tietianiec (Kuzeyboru), Aleksandra Rasińska (Aydin Büyükşehir), Martyna Grajber-Nowakowska (Aydin Büyükşehir), Zuzanna Górecka (İlbank Ankara).

In addition, let us remember that several important players for their clubs decided to end their volleyball adventure – for various reasons: Kamila Witkowska, Zuzanna Efimienko-Młotkowska, Dominika Sobolska-Tarasova, Magdalena Janiuk, Karolina Fedorek, Aleksandra Gancarz, Ewa Kwiatkowska, Adrianna Szady, Sandra Barambas and Jelena Blagojević.

I left "Blago" for the end of this list, because she deserves an additional word. Namely, that with all the deficits at various levels that we have in women's games, she was someone exceptional, not only because of her sports class and extraordinary skills, she was often the voice of reason for the entire community, she was never afraid to talk, even about difficult issues, in a word, class in herself. As an athlete and volleyball player, she was someone exceptional, and in the flood of foreign players who have come to Poland in recent years, definitely the best story that happened to these games.

The good news is that Jelena is staying with volleyball, and that's great, because she already has a lot of experience in coaching, and what's important, everything indicates that she will stay in Poland, because she is already a bit of ours, not only because she speaks and understands Polish very well, but also feels great here, which she emphasizes at every opportunity. Thanks Jelena for all these years. I hope that we will drink more than one "coffee" together at volleyball events.

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