The absence of the top scorer in the Polish championship, Bartosz Filipiak, proved to be a serious problem for Ślepsk Malow (Suwałki), which suffered its third consecutive loss. The team of Bulgarian international Asparuh Asparuhov lost at home to ZAKSA (Kędzierzyn-Koźle) with a score of 0:3 (23:25, 23:25, 18:25) in the sixth round of the Tauron League.
For the first time since the start of the season, Ślepsk failed to win either a set or a classification point. The team's previous four defeats were 2:3, which allowed them to accumulate seven points despite only one victory.
More interesting, however, is how this result came about. The hosts had to cope without their captain Bartosz Filipiak, who suffered a knee injury after a collision during the previous match against Trefl (Gdańsk). He leads the championship's scoring charts with 135 points from five matches, an average of 27 per game. Although he was with the team and listed in the squad for the match, Filipiak did not appear on the court. In his place, 19-year-old Maksymilian Lisson started as a regular, having previously recorded a total of only five points all season. However, the youngster handled the responsibility and finished as Ślepsk's top scorer with 14 points, 13 of which were in attack with 52% efficiency.
The main difficulties for the hosts came from the other end of the net – with the receivers.
Asparuh Asparuhov finished the match with 6 points, including one ace, with 31% attack efficiency and a negative point balance of -1. The Bulgarian started as a regular but was replaced by Ignacio Luengas at 17:14 for ZAKSA in the second set.
In the first set, Asparuhov had an important intervention with a counter-attack for 15:14, and subsequently helped the hosts equalize at 22:22. Before that, however, his attack out of bounds was among the moments that allowed the guests to turn the tide after Ślepsk led 17:15.
In the second set, the Bulgarian receiver recorded an ace for 10:10, but ZAKSA gradually took the initiative. The guests led 23:18 before the hosts organized an impressive chase and narrowed the gap to 23:24. A service error by Lisson ended the set.
After the match, Ślepsk coach Piotr Graban did not hide his disappointment.
"ZAKSA took away all our arguments. The balls that we couldn't finish in attack, they saved in defense and turned into counter-attacks," the coach told the local publication Suwalki24.
The statistics confirm his words. ZAKSA had an advantage in attack points – 44:39, and especially in blocks – 8:3. Interestingly, the guests made as many as 15 service errors and recorded only two aces, but still achieved a clean victory.
The top scorer for ZAKSA was Tomasz Pujol with 17 points, and Rafał Szymura added 13 and earned the award for the most valuable player. The new addition to the guest squad is also German international Jan Zimmermann.
Andrea Giani's team recorded its fourth consecutive victory and accumulated 10 points.
For Ślepsk, hope is linked to Filipiak's return. According to Suwalki24, the attacker is expected to receive medical clearance to resume team training as early as Sunday, November 15. However, there is no final confirmation of his participation in the next match.
On November 21, at 7:00 PM Bulgarian time, Asparuhov and his teammates will visit the champion Aluron CMC Warta (Zawiercie) in their next serious test.
photos:tauronliga.pl
