EEVZA-2024 Championship (women U-20)

Siauliai, Lithuania

II round. January 4

Lithuania — Ukraine 2-3 (25:22, 25:20, 15:25, 22:25, 6:15)

The blue-yellow team continued their winning streak in the championship of the Eastern European Volleyball Zonal Association. Despite two lost sets, the Ukrainians overcame the resistance of the Lithuanians.

From the first minutes of the confrontation, the opponents fought for every ball as the home team. This explains their starting, albeit minimal, leadership (7:6). After Lithuania doubled the lead, Artem Dyhtiarenko took a timeout. However, the 30-second break did not change the general pattern of the match. In particular, the number of errors on serves by the Ukrainian players caught the eye, which in the end affected both the psychological state of our athletes and the score on the scoreboard — 25:22.

In the second set, the problems of Ukrainian volleyball players did not go away. There was no way they could feel the triumphant rhythm of the game. The coach of the blue-yellow team tried to find the necessary "chemistry" with the help of substitutions: Veronika Tverda, Andriana Pavlyk, and Kateryna Zhilinska appeared on the court. However, the athletes only helped to redeem a few points — 25:20.

The home team confidently started the third part of the meeting, again knocking out our players from the reception (6:0). In those moments, the Ukrainians clearly lacked power in the attack. However, everything changed after they finally got the unit working. This gave confidence to Dyhtiarenko's wards, who showed incredible courage - 15:25.

The next set turned out to be quite tense because the teams constantly exchanged productive actions (14:14). Next, the center of attention was Kima Zharkova and her powerful serve. In addition, the opposite earned a point herself from the offensive line (14:17). This spurt became decisive in this set — 22:25. In the tie-break, the blue-yellow team did not leave the Lithuanians a single chance - 6:15.

Starting line-up of the national team of Ukraine: Heiko (c) (13), Hrytsyk (10), Starostenko (16), Herasymchuk (13), Zharkova (16), Horbachenko, Drapak (l), Prokopova (l). Substitutes: Tverda (6), Pavlyk (18), Zhylinska.