Czechia rallied from a six-point deficit in the third set to complete a sweep of Tunisia, 25-19, 25-18, 25-23, and advance to the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship quarterfinals on Tuesday at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
The victory assured Czechia of its best finish in the World Championship since the split of Czechoslovakia into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
As Czechia, the team placed 19th in 1998, 13th in 2002, 13th in 2006, and 10th in 2010 before missing the next three editions.
“It’s something incredible. I think we’re currently writing history for Czech volleyball. We can say dreams come true. I think we can be really proud of ourselves, but we are not finished yet,” said Czech outside hitter Jan Galabov, who finished with 13 points on 12-of-22 attacks.
Tunisia led as much as 16-10 in the third set, eager to extend the match. But Galabov, Patrik Indra, and Lukas Vasina took charge to complete the comeback and seal the sweep in 87 minutes.
Indra topscored for Czechia with 14 points, while Vasina added 13.
“In the first two sets, we had the game under control, but we probably lost a little bit of focus, especially since Tunisia served pretty well. But we came back, turned the game in our favor, and showed our team spirit. We really want to fight for every game, and in the end, we completed the sweep,” Galabov said of their fightback.
The Central Europeans will next face the winner of the Serbia-Iran matchup later in the day. Czechia earlier defeated Serbia in the pool stage, 25-22, 25-23, 25-20.
Despite the loss, Tunisia still capped its campaign on a positive note, holding the distinction of being the last African nation standing in the tournament.
Osama Ben Romdhane and Ali Bongui each tallied 10 points in the Tunisians’ final match.
