Nikola Grbic may be rubbing his hands. The Olympic vice-champion is in great shape!

For several years, the team from Rzeszów has been trying unsuccessfully to return to the top of the national competition. Asseco Resovia is considered the king of the PlusLiga, but subsequent blockbuster transfers most often did not translate into a subsequent agreement between the teams being built. Will the 2025/26 season be a breakthrough? We wrote more about this in a separate text, predicting that the team from Rzeszów may be really strong this time.

PlusLiga: PGE Projekt crashed in Warsaw. Marcin Janusz is in great form

The Rzeszów team opened the regular phase very well. Four matches and four victories leave no doubt. Asseco Resovia lost only a point in a 3-2 win against Energa Trefl Gdańsk. Coach Massimo Botti’s team performed particularly impressively against PGE Projekt Warszawa.

The Warsaw team started the match against Asseco Resovia as the leader of the PlusLiga table. What’s more, Bartosz Bednorz and company won three matches without losing a point or a set. However, when it came to fighting the people of Rzeszów, the hosts in the capital… did not win a single game. Which was certainly shocking in the context of the expectations of the fans who packed the Arena Ursynów. However, the Warsaw team lost 0:3, in individual sets 22:25, 22:25 and 24:26. Artur Szalpuk was chosen MVP of the match. The host, who had defended the colors of the club from Warsaw for several years in the past.

Although Szalpuk was actually one of the main characters of the PGE Projekt – Asseco Resovia match, it is also worth appreciating the work done by Marcin Janusz. The quarterback from Rzeszów is another acquisition that is supposed to give an advantage over the competition. After all, we are talking about the Olympic runner-up (2024), the first choice of coach Nikola Grbic. However, Janusz spent the 2025 national team season outside the national team, which he had previously agreed with the Serbian coach of the Poles.

It was obvious that it was the right decision. Janusz, who was appointed captain of Asseco Resovia, manages the team’s game well. During the match in Warsaw, coach Botti made several position changes, and whoever did not enter the field provided additional quality. Much of this is due not only to the players themselves, but also to Janusz, who was able to take care of his teammates by playing the ball appropriately, using both tactical assumptions and reacting to events on the pitch.

On this basis, not only Szalpuk took a toll on PGE Projekt. “Szalupa” scored 16 points. Asseco Resovia’s second scorer was center Danny Demyanenko (10 points), attacker Jakub Bucki (7), center Mateusz Poręba (7), and receiver Lukas Vasina (7), also introduced during the match.

Coach Grbic may be rubbing his hands. Janusz is in good shape, and Marcin Komenda – captain of Bogdanka LUK Lublin – who led the national team in the 2025 season, also looks very good. Next to these two, one floor below, at least at the start of the season, is the third setter of the Polish national team – Jan Firlej, a volleyball player from PGE Projekt. In the collision with Janusz, the volleyball player from the club from Warsaw fared simply worse.

As for the rivalry between Janusz and Komenda, on November 16 in the PlusLiga there will be a clash between Bogdanka LUK Lublin and Asseco Resovia Rzeszów. The two teams still undefeated this season are the last two such teams among all in the national elite.