The Czechs blew the spectators away on Day 1 of the CEV U17 Volleyball European Championship

The CEV U17 Volleyball European Championship 2022 started with the match between Serbia and Germany. Although the Serbian favorites won the first set with a crushing finish, the other two were clearly directed by the Germans.

In the fourth set, the defending bronze medalists came back into the game. The dramatic match was decided by a tiebreak, in which Serbia was more successful.

In the afternoon match Croatia played against Bulgaria. First set was even, and Bulgarian players won it narrow 27:25. “We were playing very well for the first match on the championship, we had to wait long. We were not so good in attack, Croatia was good at blocks and in defense, and it was very difficult to score the points for us.” Said coach of Bulgaria Diyan Boyukliev. The Croatians won the second set and it looked like they would easily take the third, leading 24:18, but they lost it in the end. In the fourth set, the Croatians clearly dominated and so the match also came to a tiebreak. The Croatian players were better in it and won the match. 

In the evening, the home Czech Republic played against the Netherlands. The great atmosphere helped the Czechs to a dominant performance in the first set and a turnaround in the second set, when they lost by five points and finally won it 25:21. “This helped Czechs played really well in first two sets and it was really difficult for us, they scored so many balls.” Said The Netherlands coach William Klaver. The Czech players started the third set better, but the Netherlands scored five points in a row and equalized at 12:12. “We still led in the third set, but then we started to pull away. We lost the serve on which we built the game and we lost.” Said Czechs coach Petr Klár. The Netherlands was clearly better at the end of the set and won it. The Dutch players were better also in the fourth set and forced a fifth one. Czech Republic was no longer enough for the opponent and lost the match 2:3 on the sets.

CEV U17 Volleyball European Championship 2022 - Women started with the opening matches also in the pool II, which is played in the Prostějov National Sports Center. The very opening match brought unexpected drama. Favored Turkey struggled to narrowly beat Finland 3-2 after a two-hour battle. They led 12:4 in the first set with an excellent start, but the opponents turned it around to 13:15 and the end belonged to them 23:25.

The next two sets were completely dominated by the stronger team on paper 25:12 and 25:13, but in the fourth the Finns, led by Kaikkonen (18 points in total), fought again and tied the score at 2:2 with a great finish. However, the decisive tiebreak from 0:2 was already under the control of the Turks 15:10.

The second Saturday duel pitted Italy and Hungary against each other. Also in this case, the team was led as a clear favorite at home, and this time it did not fulfill its role without partial worries. However, they only had a partial form, specifically the lost second part with a result of 20:25.

Otherwise, the physically and technically skilled Italians reigned supreme, who could rely on the often scoring pair of props Manfredini + Adigwe (both 18). The winning team played high-quality volleyball most of the time and deservedly won 3:1.

The end of the day's program was provided by a huge battle in which Poland defeated Slovenia 3:2 after almost two and a half hours. The Poles dictated the action on the board in the opening set (25:18), turning the third from 7:12 to 25:19. However, in the second and fourth, they did not manage the tense endings when they did not convert first three set points and later three match points

The sets ended 27:29 and 26:28 respectively for the dedicated Slovenians. And the most combative match in a boisterous atmosphere on both sides graduated to a tiebreak. Even the initial deficit of 0:4 did not stop the favorites in it, they finally achieved a 15:11 triumph.