The nightmare left the Polish champions disillusioned. The execution became a fact
Sir Sicoma Monini Perugia successfully defended the gold of the Men’s Volleyball Champions League. The final ended with the defeat of Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie in three sets.
This is certainly not how the Polish champions imagined their performance in the final of the tournament in Turin on Sunday (i.e. May 17). The Final Four started favorably for Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie, with a solid win (3:1) over the eventual bronze medalists from Turkey.
What coach Michał Winiarski’s team did in the Ziraat Bankkart Ankara clash was not repeated a day later. And overall equal play in the competition for the Champions League gold of the 2025/26 season ended… in the last ball of the opening set.
Champions League not for Jurassic Knights. Terrible finale scenario!
The Polish champions went point by point with the defending champions from last year. Perugia approached the competition with the best PlusLiga team with great respect. The team from Zawiercie implemented their goals firmly, and most of the actions ended practically in the first, effective blow – on both sides of the net. Although Aluron CMC Warta even had one set point, at 27:26, ultimately coach Angelo Lorenzetti’s team managed to decide the opening game in their favor.
However, was the decisive play of the captain of the Italian champions executed without error?
Simone Giannelli, a great playmaker, stole the ball from Aaron Russell. The American also wanted to finish the action effectively, and the question remains whether the Italian did not touch the Polish team. However, this cannot be checked using video verification. Only the judge could do this at his request. The referee did not decide to make such a move, so the game fell to the Italian giant – 29:27.
Two more sets? Here there was no longer any doubt who was the best club team in Europe. Although it must be admitted, the scale of the difference between the first set and the next two was somewhat surprising. The people of Zawiercie showed a completely different face. Another thing is that although Aluron CMC did not make any mistakes, the team from Perugia simply played very, very well. An organized volleyball of high quality.
Compared to the previous season, Kamil Semeniuk and his colleagues took another step in the right direction. Then the Jurassic Knights lost in the Atlas Arena in Łódź to the Italian giant 2:3. This time it ended 0:3, with the last two sets lost by 18:25 and 15:25. It was a strong clash with the defending champions.
Hero of the meeting? Here you can indicate the attacker of the winners. Wassim Ben Tara – formerly a PlusLiga player, in the colors of Stal Nysa – and, above all, a volleyball player with Polish roots, the author of 24 points (!) in the final. For a three-set match, it must be admitted that this player’s achievements are impressive.
The consolation for the club from Zawiercie is the fact that they are Champions League finalists for the second time in a row. And being called the second best team on the Old Continent means a lot. Who knows, maybe according to the PlusLiga rule – Jurassic Knights will win… at the third attempt. Because after two silver medals in the Polish Championship, coach Winiarski’s team won gold.
