Season opener, and both sides rebuilt over the summer. What decides it for me is how much each team carries over. Mielec kept the receiving and middle-block core that finished sixth last year, while Wroclaw changed its setter, opposite, libero and a receiver after winning only four games.
The market leans toward the home side because of the headline signings: setter Marlena Kowalewska is back from Greece, opposite Anastazja Hryszczuk and receiver Daria Szczyrba came from Lodz, and the libero Julia Mazur arrives from Mielec. That is a lot of new faces who have not played a real match together. Coach Wojciech Kurczynski stays, but his first season ended in eleventh place.
Mielec lost seven players and has a new coach in Jakub Gluszak, plus a new setter, opposite and libero. But seven players stayed, including receivers Baczynska, Adamczyk and Sobiczewska, middles Ociepa and Moszynska, setter Binczycka and libero Dabrowska. In an opener where serve-receive timing matters most, that shared base is what I trust.
The pre-season signals are small but point the same way. Mielec won a local tournament and finished third at another, and Wroclaw's last test before the league was a straight-sets loss to the champions from Lodz. I found no injury news for either team and no serve or block numbers, so this is a read on continuity and the way the new pieces fit, not on statistics.
