CELLFAST WILKI vs INNPRO ROW. Who will secure a spot in the semifinals?

The time for playoffs in METALKAS 2. Ekstraliga is approaching. In one of the quarterfinals, INNPRO ROW Rybnik will face CELLFAST WILKI Krosno, both teams with strong aspirations to advance to the top tier of competition in Poland.

CELLFAST WILKI secured fourth place in the standings after the regular season. During the season, the team from Krosno struggled primarily with injuries, particularly the one that sidelined their best player, Dimitri Bergre. This occurred in the match against INNPRO ROW, and the absence of the Frenchman skewed the outcome of the two-legged match. After both matches against Rybnik, certain conclusions were undoubtedly drawn. We lost to them in the two-legged match, but we lost our leader at that time, and from that moment, things got a bit disrupted. Until now, we have been able to learn from these conclusions. In the famous match against Gdańsk, when as newcomers we were winning against everyone, we lost both matches against one of the weaker teams but later met them again in the playoffs, and things went smoothly for us. So, our strong point has been that we can draw these conclusions from the regular season, and I hope it will be similar this time,” said the coach of CELLFAST WILKI Krosno, Ireneusz Kwieciński.

Since the club from Rybnik holds a higher place in the standings, the first match will take place in Krosno. For me, it doesn’t matter because we still have to ride two consistent matches. If we win the match at home with a significant margin, theoretically, defending and controlling the match will be easier, but that doesn’t always happen, so you have to be prepared for two encounters where we give our all,” asserts Kwieciński.

INNPRO ROW recently signed a new player, Paweł Miesiąc, who was supposed to compete for a place in the lineup with another Polish senior, Grzegorz Walasek. It is worth noting that for a long time, the Rybnik team remained undefeated, the only team to do so in the entire METALKAS 2. Ekstraliga. Their first defeat came only in Bydgoszcz, where they lost 61:29. Misfortune also struck the protégés of Antoni Skupień. After a very good start to the season by Kacper Tkocz, he suffered a serious injury in April in a match against TEXOM STAL Rzeszów. He returned to the track for INNPRO ROW only in June, in the aforementioned match against Bydgoszcz.

The clash with CELLFAST WILKI promises to be extremely interesting, as both teams have high ambitions to advance to the PGE Ekstraliga. Elimination at the quarterfinal stage would be a setback for both teams. However, it seems that in this match, we will discover the so-called ‘lucky loser,’ the team that despite losing the two-legged match, will find a spot in the semifinals of METALKAS 2. Ekstraliga.

Marcin Rusewicz