The matches at the European University Volleyball Championship were challenging for the athletes from the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen from the very beginning. In the preliminary round, the UWB students faced two completely different teams: the University of Bergen in Norway, which they defeated without any problems, and Fenerbahce Istanbul in Turkey, where all players receive sports scholarships and, in a way, form the reserve team of a famous team playing in the professional European leagues.
After a 3-0 win over Bergen and a 0-3 loss to Istanbul, it was clear that the University of West Bohemia team would advance to the quarterfinals, where they faced one of three advanced German teams – the University of Dresden. They played a very even match, but in one of the longest and most exciting matches of the entire tournament, they eventually lost 2:3. "We started the match very well, the guys played well and did what we had agreed, so we won the first two sets. Unfortunately, from the third set onwards, some things stopped working for us and the match began to turn around. And even though we tried to do something about it, our opponents were strong and didn't let us win," said one of the UWB coaches, Daniel Sys, assessing the quarter-final battle.
The next match in the group for 5th to 8th place was less than 15 hours away, so there wasn't much time to recover. In the next match, UWB faced the home team, the University of Sport Sciences of Budapest. Once again, it was a long, dramatic match that went to five sets. This time, however, it ended well for UWB with a 3:2 victory in sets.
The final match for fifth place against Valencia, Spain, was the third in less than 30 hours. "And that may have had an impact, mainly in the number of unforced errors and the 0:3 loss, even though all the sets were close, with a difference of 2 or 3 points. You always want to win the last match, the boys were well prepared, but unfortunately, we didn't play well. Our opponent was better mainly in that they didn't make as many mistakes and basically beat us, so we didn't win, which made us a little sad," added assistant coach Ondřej Vodrážka. "However, finishing 6th out of 14 is no disgrace. The teams that beat our team finished 2nd, 3rd, and 5th, so we really played against the best teams in the tournament," he added.
In addition to being a sports tournament, the European University Championships was a meeting of students and athletes from all over Europe. In addition to the men's teams, 16 women's teams also played in the championship, but this time without the participation of the team from the University of West Bohemia. The program included a number of joint sightseeing and cultural activities.
Institute of Physical Education and Sport |
Ondřej Vodrážka |
12. 08. 2025 |