Lausanne, Switzerland, November 8, 2018 - Mariusz Wlazly scored an incredible 27 points in four sets, as PGE Skra Belchatow defeated Asseco Resovia Rzeszow 3-1 (32-30, 21-25, 26-24, 25-21) Wednesday night in Poland's PlusLiga, as the two sides that will represent the country in the upcoming 2018 FIVB Men's Club World Championship went head-to-head.
The Club World Championship runs from 26 November until 2 December across Poland. Pool A in Plock features Skra, Russia's Zenit Kazan (the defending champions) and Fakel Novy Urengoy, plus Italy's Cucine Lube Civitanova. Pool B in Rzeszow includes Resovia, Iran's Khatam Ardakan, Brazil's Sada Cruzeiro Contagem and Italy's Itas Trentino.
The top two teams of each pool gather in Czestochowa for the medals round in the last two days of action.
It was the third win for Skra in the PlusLiga after six matches, bringing the side up to 7th place in the standings.
Resovia, whose best scorer against Skra was Damian Schulz with 22 points, remain winless at the bottom of the table.
Italian derbyThe two Italian teams in the World Championship also came head-to-head, with Lube twice coming back from a set down and finally edging Trentino 3-2 (22-25, 25-14, 22-25, 25-20, 15-13) at home in Civitanova last weekend in the Italian Superleague.
Cuban-born Yoandy Leal scored 21 points for Lube in that match, with Bulgaria's Tsvetan Sokolov adding another 20 - including an amazing attacking efficiency of 61% (19/31). Serbia's Uros Kovacevic was top scorer of the game on 27 points for Trentino with 26 kills from 38 swings for 68%.
In midweek Italian domestic action, Wednesday night, Trentino bounced back with a 3-0 (25-19, 25-20, 25-19) sweep of Top Volley Latina, while Lube extended their winning streak on the road edging Vero Volley Monza 3-2 (16-25, 25-21, 24-26, 25-16, 15-13).
Sada CruzeiroIn Brazil's Superleague, meanwhile, reigning national and South American Champions remain undefeated and on a perfect record after defeating Sao Francisco Saude / Volei Ribeirao 3-0 (25-20, 29-27, 25-17) last weekend with Isac Santos and USA's Taylor Sander each contributing 13 points.
In RussiaAnd in Russia, while the Superleague took a break last weekend, Fakel sailed through their qualification round pool to make the Final Four of the Russian Cup competition with wins over Dinamo Moscow, Dinamo Saint Petersbourg and Ural Ufa. Reigning national, European and world champions Zenit Kazan are also in the Final Four as hosts of the competition which will be held in the Tatarstan capital on December 14-15.
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