"Budinvest" League Cup.
1/4 finals. 3 match.
Chernivtsi. SC "Malenkyi Paryzh". December 20.
VC "Zhytichi-Polyssia" - VSC "Law Academy" - 1:3 (13:25, 26:24, 17:25, 18:25).
VC "Zhytichi-Polissya": Denys Hubenko (14 points), Vitalii Bondar (13), Mykola Kuranov (2), Mykola Rudnytskyi (8), Mykyta Luban (3), Andrii Orobko (11), Anatolii Khvasta (L) - starting line-up; Bohdan Onipko (5).
VSC "Law Academy": Ihor Antoniuk (18), Vitalii Sukhinin (19), Illia Polishchuk (4), Oleksandr Tereshchuk (10), Viktor Shapoval (16), Pavlo Plotnik (8), Viacheslav Perekhodniuk (L) - starting line-up ; Denys Dehtiar (0), Mykyta Arbuzov (0), Yevhenii Stepovyi (1), Artem Troianovskyi (0).
The third quarter-final match of the "Budinvest" League Cup, in which "Zhytychi-Polyssia" from Zhytomyr and "Law Academy" from Kharkiv faced each other, had every chance to become the "hottest" at this stage. In the championship, the teams exchanged victories with the same score of 3:1, and today it was quite possible to expect the semi-finalists of the League Cup to be determined in five sets.
The team from Kharkiv started the match very strongly - 8:2, 13:6. Such a starting advantage of the "lawyers" to some extent came as a surprise. However, they continued to completely dominate the field. At the beginning of the second half, the handicap of Serhii Kovalenko's team reached 9 points (17:8). At that moment, the team from Zhytomyr managed to take three rallies in a row, but then the "Law Academy" managed a 4:0 run, which practically sealed its victory in the set.
In the second set, the tension on the court increased several times. The teams took turns coming forward, and the first half of the set was minimally won by "Law Academy" - 13:12. In the second half, Serhii Kovalenko's team initially developed their advantage, but failed to finish the set. "Lawyers" allowed the Zhytomyr players to win the right to three set balls at once. At the cost of a lot of effort, they won them back, but then in the game of "more or less", Nikita Arbuzov made a mistake on the serve, and Vitalii Sukhinin unsuccessfully attacked from the 4th zone. In this way, "Zhytichi-Polissia" equalized the score in the match - 1:1.
At the beginning of the third set, "Law Academy" regained the initiative, taking a 6:2 lead. In response, Serhii Tereykovskyi's team won 3 points in a row. In the middle of the set, the Kharkiv players again went to "+4" in their favor. Serhii Tereykovsky took a time-out, but the break did not benefit his team. "Law Academy" increased their advantage and confidently left the set behind - 25:17.
In the debut of the fourth set, it was difficult to give someone an advantage. At the same time, the team from Kharkiv was the most arrogant. They left the first half of the set with an advantage of 3 points - 13:10. In the second half, "lawyers" did not lose the initiative. Experienced team leaders Ihor Antoniuk, Vitalii Sukhinin, and Viktor Shapoval played a productive match. In many ways, thanks to their efforts, "Law Academy", as in the second round of the championship, won with a score of 3:1, gaining a ticket to the semi-finals of the League Cup.
