Cup of Ukraine 2023/24 (women)
Match for third place. March 13
SC "Balta" — VC "Bukovynka" 3-1 (26:24, 25:18, 19:25, 25:23)
After the tiring preliminary five-set match against "Alanta", the representatives of Chernivtsi still did not have time to fully recover, primarily psychologically. For its part, "Balta" played one of the best matches of the season and deservedly won the historic bronze medals of the Cup of Ukraine.
At the start of the meeting, both teams made a lot of mistakes, in particular, on serves. This somewhat slowed down the pace of the confrontation. For most of the set, the sides played evenly, and sometimes even with a minimal advantage of the Chernivtsi team (10:12).
Then, in the game of the latter, there was a real failure, due to which they lost six rallies in a row (16:12). At the end of the set, "Bukovynka" came to its senses and, thanks to a successful block, converted it more or less. However, the final word remained in favor of their rivals - 26:24.
In the next set, we once again witnessed the so-called "swings". At the equator of the set, it was the Balta who were closest to doubling the score (12:9). Artem Dyhtiarenko had already used two time-outs at that time. However, his wards did not manage to feel their triumphant rhythm - 25:18.
The 10-minute period benefited the Bukovynka volleyball players. Because they started the third set with a confident spurt (0:4). Despite such a comfortable handicap, Andrii Romanovych's team equalized parity and even had chances to end the match here and now. But the representatives of Odesa did not take advantage of their chances - 19:25.
After the previous victory, it seemed that the psychological advantage should already be on the side of "Bukovynka". But due to a large number of their own mistakes, they could not transform it into long-term success - 25:23.
Starting line-up of SC "Balta": Volchenko (c) (3), Ratii (11), Skliarova (14), Nohina (17), Strelbytska (14), Malysheva (6), Karasova (l). Substitutes: Dromova, Berezovska, Lysa.
Starting line-up of VC "Bukovynka": Lohmanchuk (11), Starostenko (14), Kaplanska M. (10), Dziuba (3), Herasymchuk (7), Huseinova (4), Rotar (l, c), Drapak (l). Substitutes: Tverda, Kaplanska D (4), Zharkova (2).
