The playoffs in the women’s volleyball tournament of the European Universities Games Zagreb-Rijeka 2016 started in the early morning at the Bojan Stranic Volleyball Hall and the Vladimir Prelog High School Hall.
The Vladimir Prelog Hall hosted the teams that finished third and fourth in the group stage. The first match was played between The Ternopil National Economic University and the Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek. The team from Osijek rose to victory after winning all three sets (21-25, 20-25, 23-25). After the first match ended, it was time for the Northumbria University to face off against the Tampere University of Technology. The British players won all three sets (25-10, 25-9, 25-19). In the afternoon, the University of Ljubljana beat the Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences 3-0 (25-20, 25-23, 25-18). A match between the University of Regensburg and the Tallinn University wrapped up the day at the Vladimir Prelog Hall. After four sets, the Estonian team finally rose to a 1-3 win (25-18, 20-25, 21-25, 21-25).
Meanwhile, at the Bojan Stranic Volleyball Hall, teams were fighting for their place in the quarter-finals. In the morning, the first players to come out on the court were the hosts from Zagreb, who lost after the fifth set. Their opponents from the University of Lausanne won 2-3 (20:25, 25:14, 24:26, 26:24, 9:15).
‘We’ve been playing for four days in the row, so we’re pretty tired, and the heat is definitely affecting our performance. We’ve only played in the evening so far, but today, we’ve been playing from early morning. We didn’t take this change well. We’re not satisfied because we believe we can do much better, and we’re sorry we’ve missed our chance,’ said Sara Radanović from the University of Zagreb.
Pierre Pfefferle, coach of the Lausanna team, also added:
‘The game was incredibly intense and strong emotions could be felt all throughout the match.’
The Romanian and German teams faced off in a match whose outcome was uncertain until the very end. All three sets were won by the Romanian Vasile Alecsandri University of Bacău (25:20, 25:21, 25:20).
Aurel Cazacu, coach of the Romanian team, said:
‘This game was difficult for us and it was very hot in the hall, but the opposing team played in the same conditions. We were focused and helped each other out, which was our team’s strength.’
The coach from the University of Munich congratulated the Romanian team, who proved to be the players of the day, adding that her team couldn’t win every single match.
The volleyball players from the German Sport University Cologne started the afternoon playoffs with a win over the University of Banja Luka after three sets (25:12, 25:14, 25:8). The teams from the University of Belgrade and the University of Munich played four sets, after which the Serbian players rose to a 3-1 victory (25-17, 22-25, 25-17, 25-16).
Results
