Czech volleyball players defeated the Ukrainians in a five-set battle and will challenge the world champions in the quarterfinals of the European Championship. Men’s volleyball is preparing to enter the championship

On Monday evening, the Czech national team played the eighth round of the European Women’s Volleyball Championship. They lost their 2:0 set lead against Ukraine, but thanks to the tiebreak they are celebrating their promotion to the top eight teams of the tournament. The men’s championship has already started and the Czechs are about to make their first appearance.

After finishing second in the preliminary group, the Czech Republic traveled to Belgium from Germany for the eighth-final clash. There, the Ukrainians played their group matches and eventually finished third. The duel of the opening round of the playoffs in Brussels started at 8 pm.

The Czechs entered the match better, winning the first set 25:22. The same result was repeated by the charges of the Greek coach Giannis Athanasopoulos in the second act. Then, however, the players from the Eastern European country started to have the upper hand.

They started to be more successful from the middle of the third set, which they finally dominated 25:20. In the fourth set the Czech volleyball players put up much less resistance and won only ten points. The winners had to be decided in a tiebreak.

In it, the team of captain Michaela Mlejnková scored five times in a row from the score of 4:4, which proved to be crucial. The Ukrainians could not turn it around and the Czechs, after converting the fourth match point at 15:12, could celebrate their progress to the quarterfinals of the European Championship after twelve years. Among the best scoring members of the Czech team was the experienced smasher Helena Havelkova, returning to six-man volleyball from beach volleyball.

She will face one of the toughest possible opponents in the fight for the semi-finals. The Serbians, the reigning world champions, European vice-champions and medalists from the last two Olympics, defeated their Swedish rivals in the eighth round 25:17, 25:13 and 25:16.

The quarter-final match between the Czech Republic and Serbia will be played on Wednesday at 8 pm in the Belgian capital, where the whole championship will culminate this weekend. In the remaining matches of the quarter-final phase, the Netherlands and Bulgaria, the defending champions from Italy and France, and the Turks and Poland will face each other.

While the women’s European Championship is slowly coming to a close, the men’s is just beginning. Monday night in Bologna, Italy, was the opening clash. The home team, also defending gold, defeated Belgium 25:17, 25:18 and 25:15.

In addition to the Apennine Peninsula, the tournament will also be hosted by Bulgaria, Israel and North Macedonia. The matches of Group C, to which the Czech Republic belongs, will take place in that capital.

The team led by coach Jiri Novak will play in Skopje for the first time on Thursday evening. At 8 pm they will challenge the current world vice-champions from Poland. The Czechs will also face the Danes, the Dutch, the Montenegrins and the home team North Macedonia.

Source: CEV, CT Sport