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On Tuesday, 9 October, the Rector of the University of West Bohemia Miroslav Lávička welcomed the university men's volleyball team led by coach Ondřej Vodrážka from the Department of Physical Education and Sport of the Faculty of Engineering. The students have had a very successful season. However, they shared a rather curious story with the rector on that occasion:

"We went to the finals, where we unfortunately lost, but in the end it turned out that the player who was from the Brno team should not have played officially at all, as he had been expelled from the school before. His team knew this and went to the final with it. So we got the first place prize, but they were announced as the winners. It threw a bad light on the whole competition," one of the players explained to the rector to the cheers of the others. After all, according to the rules, only students of the university have to be in the university team. The Brno team was therefore eventually disqualified.

The rector, after understandable surprise at the unusual situation that had occurred in Brno, expressed his general joy that university leagues exist and praised the team for their perfect results. "I also like the fact that the composition of the sports teams goes across the faculties of the university, as it should be. What is also interesting is that with volleyball, they know exactly when it was created," the rector added for lightness and shared other interesting facts about their favourite sport, such as its original name, mintonette, with those present. "So, you may not have been the winners as part of the varsity volleyball team, but the mintonette team," the rector finished with a smile.

This year, the Pilsen team won the 3rd edition of the University Volleyball League (UVL). The competition usually involves 18-20 universities and is played in a system of four tournaments during the academic year, in four groups. The top two teams from each group then advance to the final tournament where the winner is played. "The boys have made it to the final tournament in the first two years (5th and 7th place). This year they played at their best and dominated the final tournament and won. It was a great achievement for the boys as many university teams have extra-league players in their midst. Our advantage is that most of the boys play together here in Pilsen for USK Pilsen and play 2nd league, so they train together all year round. In addition, we have a joint training session of the university team once a week," described Ondřej Vodrážka and added that on Monday 14 October the first tournament of the new UVL season will be played in Pilsen.

Those interested in university volleyball and sport in general from among the students of the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen can find contacts and necessary information on the website of the Department of Physical Education and Sport of the Faculty of Engineering.