Polish champion Bogdanka LUK Lublin achieved a dramatic 3:2 (22:25, 23:25, 27:25, 25:16, 15:13) victory against Belgian Knack Roeselare in a group stage match played on January 27, 2026, at the hallHala Globus Tomasz Wójtowiczin Lublin. The match lasted 108 minutes and offered everything – comebacks, missed opportunities, and decisive individual performances.
The guests from Roeselare took a 2:0 lead in sets, and in both cases, the hosts controlled the game until the middle of the sets, after which the Belgians imposed their initiative. However, the Poles showed character in the third set – trailing 19:21, Lublin managed to equalize, to force the set into extra points, and with better concentration, to get back into the match.
The fourth set was entirely dominated by the hosts. They took the lead from the very beginning, built a solid advantage in the middle of the set at 16:10, and without hesitation equalized the overall score.
The decisive fifth set started better for the Belgian team, who first reached the 8th point. However, after the change of sides, Alex Grozdanov played a key role, playing stably and scoring three consecutive points. Wilfredo Leon also stepped up in the decisive rallies, and the guests made a fatal error on the last point when they missed the ball – thus the match ended after nearly two hours of play.
Alex Grozdanov finished with 12 points(+8, 3 blocks and 64% attack efficiency). The top scorer for the winners was Wilfredo Leon with 26 points, Eno added 18, and Young contributed 11 points.
For Knack Roeselare, once again the top scorer, as in the first match in Belgium, was Basil Deremaux with 27 points, but this time his efforts brought only one point for the standings. Wilfredo Leon became MVP.
Match Statistics: Bogdanka LUK Lublin – Knack Roeselare
| Category | Bogdanka LUK Lublin | Knack Roeselare |
|---|---|---|
| Points from Attack (Winning Spikes) | 62 | 59 |
| Points from Block (Kill Blocks) | 10 | 6 |
| Aces | 5 | 7 |
| Points from Opponent Errors | 35 | 30 |
| Total Points Won | 112 | 102 |
The two teams were almost equally matched in attack (61:59), but the huge difference in blocks (11:5) was the key to Lublin's comeback. Knack Roeselare partially compensated with serves (7:5 aces), but made more errors in crucial moments, which brought additional points to the hosts. The overall point balance of 112:101 clearly shows that after the second set, control gradually passed entirely into the hands of the Polish champion.
With this success, Bogdanka LUK Lublin remains the sole leader in the group. An interesting fact is that this was the fifth match in the group to finish with a tie-break, which clearly shows how evenly matched and competitive the competition is in this pool.
