52nd Copernican Tournament for the Cups of the Rector of the University of Nicolaus Copernicus in Toruń

The 52nd UMK Rector’s Cups Tournament in men’s and women’s volleyball, which was held on 05-07.04 2024, made history. It was attended by 12 teams (6 male and 6 female) from:

Warsaw University (UW),
University of Gdansk – women’s team (UG),
John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin – men’s team (KUL),
Jagiellonian University (UJ),
Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań (UAM),
Wyższa Szkoła Gospodarki in Bydgoszcz (WSG),
and two host teams from the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń (UMK).

Thirty matches (15 women and 15 men) were played.

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AZS UMK students have had a sensational performance. They won 5 convincing victories against:

KUL 2:0 (25:22, 25:12),
UW 2:0 (25:21, 27:25),
UAM 2:1,
UJ 2:0 (25:18, 25:22)
and the second team UMK 2:0 (25:22,25:12).

In the men’s tournament, the order was as follows:

1. UMK 10pkt
2. UAM 8 pts
3. KUL 8 pts
4. UMK II 7 pts
5. UJ 7 pts
6. UW 5 pts

The UMK I team played: Maciej Piasecki, Dawid Jankowski, Mateusz Ryzykowski, Jakub Dobrolubow, Pavel Gac, Ilia Rozit, Radoslav Sobocinski and Krystian Kuczkowski.
UMK II featured Maciej Zarzycki, Adrian Falgowski, Adrian Czyż, Adam Starybrat, Dominik Ziętera, Michal Potempa, Aleksander Angowski and Mateusz Boniecki.
The coach of our teams was Michał Tyburski, MA.

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Our AZS UMK volleyball players entered the tournament weakened by the absence of 4 basic players, who at the same time played the second league barrage tournament. They fought as much as possible, but had to acknowledge superiority:

UAM 1:2 (22:25, 25:18, 13:15),
UW 0:2 (15:25, 24:26),
UG 0:2 (12:25, 15:25),
WSG 0:2 (15:25, 15:25)
and UJ 0:2 (20:25, 20:25)

In the women’s tournament, the final order was as follows:
1. UJ 10 pts
2. UG 9 pts
3. UW 8 pts
4. WSG 7 pts
5. UAM 6 pts
6. UMK 5 pts

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The organizers selected the best players in each team:

UG: Jagoda Nagórska
WSG: Justyna Bąk
UW: Emilia Klimczuk and Mikołaj Włodarczyk
UAM: Aleksandra Szabela and Michał Malczewski
KUL: Szymon Mańkowski
UJ: Daria Kopeć and Filip Warmusz
UMK: Agata Stankiewicz and Jakub Dobrolubow UMK I and Adrian Czyż UMK II

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The Toruń academics from under the AZS UMK sign were led by excellent coaches Mariusz Soja and Michal Tyburski.

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The best player (MVP) of the 52nd Copernican Tournament was Kornelia Kłopecka (UJ), and the player was Radoslaw Sobocinski (UMK).

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Funders of the prizes were J.M. Rector of UMK, UCS Directorate, NSZZ “Solidarity” at UMK, Polish Teachers Union at UMK, President of AZS UMK Toruń, Torimpex Trade, Toruńskie Zakłady Materiałów Opatrunkowych Bella.

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The main tournament was accompanied by the Masters Men’s Tournament. It was dedicated to former students – graduates of friendly universities, who participated in our event during the period of their studies.

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The Copernican Tournament is the oldest academic tournament in Poland. It ended as a huge organizational success, which was reflected in the comments at the end of the competition.We will do our best to make the next edition equally successful.

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photography by Nikola Krauze