PGE Skra Belchatow – team
Aleksandar Atanasijevic and Mariusz Wlazly were the best scorers of the winning side with 14 and 11 points respectively. Michal Winiarski added 9 and Daniel Plinski and Karol Klos each contributed 7 points.
Zamalek’s Reda Haikal had a match-high 22 points followed by Mohamed Badawy with 11 tallies.
The Polish club had an 8-4 advantage in blocking but Zamalek had the favorable margin in the service ace department 7-2.
Skra Belchatow led 8-6 with balanced attack in the early stages of the first set. Zamalek reduced the distance to 16-15 relying on the solid offense of Reda Haikel. Atanasijevic broke a tie at 15-all with a cross-court attack from the right side. Seif Elnasr gave Zamalek an 18-17 lead with a floating service ace but Winiarski tied the score again. The scoreboard continued equalized with teams exchanging big blows. Badawy’s spike combined with an opponent error gave Zamalek a 23-21 lead. Atanasijevic and Afifi traded big smashes for 24-22 but Haikel served long. Atanasijevic tied up at 24-all forcing a Zamalek time-out. Consecutive attacks by Klos and Atanasijevic gave Skra Belchatow the set 27-25.
The red-hot Atanasijevic contributed to a 6-2 start in the second set with three formidable spikes. The Polish club led 8-2 at the first technical time-out. Raikal scored and served for two consecutive Zamalek’s points and then netted his serve. Wlazly planted a spectacular kill and Atanasijevic continued his torrid streak. Badawy scored two straight points and Zamalek narrowed the difference to 12-7. Badawy scored and then blocked Atanasijevic but Wlazly emerged with his spike and Atanasijevic scored from the back row. Haikel came back for Zamalek and Youseef also scored for a 15-12 score. Wlazly planted a devastating spike for the 16-12 advantage in favor of the Polish club. At 21-15, Badawy scored for Zamalek followed by an error of the opponent. Atanasijevic scored three of the last points of the set for his team which took the second 25-19.
Wlazly led a torrid Polish offense to start the third set sending Skra Belchatow to an 8-3 advantage. Haikal landed a missile for Zamalek but Klos was ready to counterattack. At 10-6 Abouelhassan served and ace and Kabary added a kill. It was a battle from then on with the two teams increasing the pressure. Haikal broke a 15-all tie for a 16-15 lead of Zamalek at the second pause. At 18-18, Kooistra crashed his serve into the net but Badawy served long. The attack of Cala was out of bounds to give Zamalek a 20-19 lead and the Egyptian increased to 21-19 after one opponent error. Cala capped a Polish comeback to tie at 21. Haikal and Badawy parlayed spikes for set point at 24-22. Winiarski tipped one off the Egyptian block and the score tied at 24-24. Badawy and Winiarsky exchanged big hits to keep the equalized score. Cala gave Skra the lead 26-25 , but then was blocked by Kabary. Cupkovic gave again the lead to the Polish and the set concluded with an error by Zamalek defense 28-26.
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