European Championship-2023. Women
Group A. Fifth game. August 24
Ghent (Flanders Sports Arena). Belgium
Poland — Ukraine 3-1 (25:17, 22:25, 25:17, 25:17)
In the final for both - Ukraine and Poland - match of the group stage of the continental championship, the fate of the second place was determined. In the end, the blue-yellow team gave way today and remained in the third position.
Ivan Petkov used rotation, releasing Yevheniia Khober and Anastasiia Maievska from the first minutes. In addition, Anastasiia Kraiduba was injured yesterday. Apparently, the coaching staff decided not to risk her health, so Viktoriia Danchak appeared in the starting position. The girls got a great chance to prove themselves, and in general they did not disappoint.
The Poles predictably seized the initiative. However, the blue-yellow team tried not to let their opponents go further - 12:11. At the equator of the set, Martyna Łukasik knocked out our players from reception, due to which her team broke away on the score. In the end, this local spurt became decisive in the set - 25:17.
In the second set, Ivan Petkov's wards took the lead for the first time, with a three-point advantage. After an unsuccessful attempt by her rivals, Svitlana Dorsman "deliciously" finished an impressive attack and increased the gap - 3:7. An optimistic start, but no one was going to give up.
The Poles increased their speed and approached closely - 11:12. Petkov reacted to such audacity with a substitution: first Nadiia Kodola entered the court, and then Diana Meliushkina. It worked because his team stabilized the situation and even with a small margin regained the handicap — 14:19. On the other side of the net, Magdalena Stysiak took over the role of leader, literally dragging Poland back into the game. However, Ukraine still had the last word here — 22:25.
The development of the third set resembled the first one: Stefano Lavarini's wards, enraged by the latest failure, began to act more aggressively both in the attack and on the block. The attempts of our coaching staff to break their pace with timeouts had a short-lived effect - 25:17.
Blue and yellow, not paying attention to the current score of the match, continued to cling to each rally. They were very eager to make a comeback that would undoubtedly go down in history. In fact, the girls were very close to it, especially when they reduced a big gap - 10:6, 11:11. However, the representatives of Poland, with their class and experience, brought the meeting to their own triumph - 25:17.
We would like to remind you that in the round of 16, the Ukrainian women will play against the second team of group C, which will be announced a little later. The game will take place in Brussels.
Starting line-up of the national team of Ukraine: Daria Sharhorodska, Svitlana Dorsman (c), Anastasiia Maievska, Oleksandra Milenko, Yevheniia Khober, Viktoriia Danchak, Krystyna Nemtseva (l).
Starting line-up of the national team of Poland: Magdalena Jurczyk, Agnieszka Korneluk, Joanna Wołosz, Martyna Łukasik, Olivia Różański, Magdalena Stysiak, Maria Stenzel.
