Just two days after the biggest success in its club history – winning the Polish Cup – Bogdanka LUK Lublin experienced a sharp landing in the championship. In front of their home crowd, the league leader lost 1:3 against the last-placed team, InPost ChKS Chełm, and the newcomer's victory unleashed a wave of comments, disputes, and analyses in the Polish volleyball scene.

The match was not one that will go down in history for its quality and spectacle. There were many inaccuracies, fluctuations, and long periods without rhythm. But there was no shortage of emotions, and most importantly – Chełm played the match exactly as a team fighting for survival should.

The Cup that changed everything

Lublin took to the court in 'Globus' hall in an unusual role. Captain Marcin Komenda first showed the TAURON Puchar Polski trophy to the crowd, and then took a seat on the bench alongside Wilfredo León and Alex Grozdanov. Stefan Antiga decided to rotate almost the entire squad, leaving only Kevin Sasak and middle blocker Finian McCarthy in the starting six.

The decision was logical given the calendar – five sets on Thursday, five on Saturday, and three on Sunday, plus the pressure of a cup final. But it also had its cost.

Chełm seized the moment

The guests were not impressed by either the hall or the opponent's status. Service pressure and Remigiusz Kapica's steady play quickly tipped the scales in the first set, which ended 25:17 for Chełm. In the second, Lublin reacted, took advantage of a series of guest errors, and equalized after 25:20, but this proved to be more of a brief flicker.

The real turning point came in the third set. Lublin was leading and seemed to be controlling the match, but a run from 19:17 to 19:22 for Chełm turned everything around. Kapica closed the set at 25:23, and with that, the psychological advantage shifted to the newcomer.

The fourth set was a war of nerves, decided by details. Chełm had match point, Lublin fought back, but at 29:27, the guests put an end to the dispute with a successful block – symbolically concluding the evening in which they delivered their biggest blow of the season so far.

Kapica – the face of the sensation

With 26 points and 59% attack efficiency, Remigiusz Kapica was not just the MVP but the real leader of Chełm. He took responsibility in crucial moments and showed why it is increasingly being said in Poland that the team's hope for survival in PlusLiga revolves around him.

Lublin under fire

After the final point, the criticisms were swift. On social media, fans questioned:

• the squad's depth;

• the readiness of the reserves;

• the role of some players in the experimental configuration.

The most frequently mentioned accusation was that Lublin 'gave away the match themselves.' Others, however, defended Antiga's decision, citing the relentless calendar and accumulated fatigue.

Grbić's warning

Interestingly, all of this was foreseen even before the first serve against Chełm. After the Polish Cup final, national team coach Nikola Grbić issued a warning that became a reality two days later.

'Now they will probably need a day or two to recover. It's entirely possible they will lose the next match – and that's normal. I'm not saying it will necessarily happen, but it often does. When you set yourself up for such a tournament, you can't maintain that level,' Grbić said then with a smile, adding that he had already shared this with the club management.

These very words give meaning to what happened in Lublin. The loss to Chełm does not nullify the cup, does not erase the team's class, and does not turn the leader into a failure. It is rather a reminder of the price of success in a season without a break, where emotion, fatigue, and the calendar go hand in hand.

And as Nikola Grbić warned - after a great peak, a decline often follows. And sometimes it materializes exactly where you least expect it.

photos:plusliga.pl and facebook