From March 11 to 27, the annual fixture Huoju Cup Volleyball Competition was held in WHU and attracted 26 teams, representing each department.
After a month of round robin, semifinals and finals, the School of Electronic Information, School of Power and Mechanical Engineering, and School of Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering scored top 3 in the men's game, while the top 3 teams in the women's game were the School of Geodesy and Geomatics (SGG), School of Mathematics and Statistics (SMS), and School of Information Management, with SGG and SMS winning tickets to the women’s final.
On March 27 at 6 pm, the women’s final kicked off in Song Qing stadium as the whistle blew. Spectators came to cheer on their peers, filling the room with enthusiasm and applause. The first ball was served by the SGG team, who won several rallies consecutively and brought the score to 23-7. Then the SMS team scored another six points before their opponents won the first set at 25 points.
At the beginning of the second set, the SGG team was leading with a score of 7-2. After a time-out requested by the SMS team, the score gap narrowed, but soon its rival launched a few aggressive attacks and outscored by 8 points. Following a substitution in the SMS team, the score came to 23-20. With another point scored by SGG, the victory shot was made. The spiker of the SGG team jumped up with arm extended above her head, then swung her arm, snapped her wrist, and swiftly hit the ball. The ball bounced heavily onto the opposite court to announce the end of the second set.
A player spiking the ball
The third set was rather intense. Two teams were competing neck to neck when several spikes from the SGG team broke the standoff. The score, led by the SGG team, soon came to 17-7. The consistently excellent performance enabled the SGG team to stay ahead and extend the lead. Finally, the numbers on the scoreboard froze at 25-16.
“Hooray!” Thunderous acclamation broke out from every side and corner of the stadium. The SGG team won three sets in succession and arose as the clear winners of the 2019 Huoju Cup, the women's game. SGG supporters rushed to the court and surrounded their champions, forming a circle to show their pride in their fellows. “Their performance was absolutely perfect!” spectators shouted, unable to contain their excitement.
The SGG volleyball team
The championship required tremendous effort from the players. Zhang Huimin, the leader of the SGG volleyball team, explained that the players had prepared for the competition for a year, and that they are now going to prepare for the next Huoju Cup. Their triumph came as a surprise to some people, for never before had they achieved such an excellent result. But in Zhang’s mind, they deserved the success. “Throughout the past year, we continually improved our skills, and our faith in winning definitely contributed to our better performance.”
First established more than 25 years ago and getting the name from its sponsor, Huoju Cup has been the most important competition for every college volleyball team in WHU. It has served as a bridge between the different teams as well as all volleyball lovers in WHU.
(Photo from the School of Geodesy and Geomatics)
Edited by Jiang Chiheng, Wei Junyi, Shi Weiya & Hu Sijia
