Year in Review: European Teams at the VNL

With eight national teams in the men’s and women’s competitions, Europe once again became the continent with the most teams at the Volleyball National League 2022, and with two podiums per gender it also remained as the most successful one.

At the men’s VNL 2022, Europe was represented by France, Poland, Italy, Netherlands, Slovenia, Serbia, Germany, and Bulgaria. After the preliminary phase, where each team played 12 matches in total, four European national teams advanced to the quarterfinals. 

The final round of the tournament was held in Bologna, Italy. There was also a massive fight between Italy and Netherlands in the quarterfinals, and Italy overpowered their opponent in four sets. While France had no difficulties beating Japan by a clear score of 3-0, Poland secured their spots in the semifinal after a five-set-thriller against Iran.

In the first semifinal, Poland lost to the United States, and in the other semifinal where European teams took the court against each other, France beat host Italy in straight sets.

For the bronze medal, two of the most elite national teams in Europe became face to face: After a challenging battle, Poland took the bronze medal by defeating Italy by 3-0.

In the final match, there was a definite immense battle between France and United States, but the European side prevailed in the tie-break set and took the trophy to the continent.

The Dream Team of the competition had five European stars. While the French Earvin Ngapeth was honored with the Best Outside Hitter and MVP award, Jean Patry (France), Trevor Clevenot (France), Mateusz Bieniek (Poland), and Jenia Grebennikov (France) took their places in the Dream Team thanks to their outstanding performances throughout the tournament.

As well as the men’s competition, Europe was represented with eight national teams at the Women’s VNL 2022. Italy, Serbia, Türkiye, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, Bulgaria, and Belgium competed in the first round, and three of them both succeeded in advancing to the quarterfinals and semifinals.

The quarterfinal clashes took place in Ankara, Türkiye, and three teams who also stood at the podium at the CEV 2021 EuroVolley, also booked their ticket to the semifinals. In the semifinals, Serbia failed against Brazil by 3-1, and Italy defeated Türkiye in three sets.

Serbia took the bronze medal after a challenging three-set-victory versus Türkiye. At the same time, Italy won their first title in the VNL, overpowering Brazil without losing any sets in the final match.

Just like the podium, many of the elite European players were on the Dream Team as well: While Italian superstar Paola Egonu was selected as both the MVP and the Best Opposite of the tournament, Alessia Orro (Italy), Caterina Bosetti (Italy), Jovana Stevanovic (Serbia), and Monica De Gennaro (Italy), became the best players on their positions and named on the Dream Team.

By bringing the trophies to the continent, and the most participation, European national teams showed outstanding performances in this year’s Volleyball National League both in men’s and women’s areas, and make Europe the most successful continent one more time.