European Golden League-2023. Women. Group C
Romania. Pyatra-Neamts. Chahleul Arena
June 14. 3rd round
Ukraine — France 3-1 (25:21, 25:17, 17:25, 25:11)
The national women's team of Ukraine reached the "final four" of the European Golden League-2023. This became possible after today's victory of our volleyball players over the representatives of France. The latter, by the way, are the current holders of the trophy.
From the first minutes of the confrontation, Ivan Petkov's wards had a good serve: Anastasiia Kraiduba scored two aces in a row — 3:1. The formidable weapon of the Ukrainians, namely, the double block performed by Oleksandra Milenko and Anastasiia Maievska, forced the coach of the French team, Emile Rousseau, to take a time-out. Meanwhile, the margin of nominal hosts only grew - 10:5.
After simple mistakes by our players, the rivals equalized parity. Soon the attackers of the French national team had their say, in particular, Amanda Marin Silves and Amelie Rotar, who were successful in the final stage of the attacks — 18:21. Blue and yellows did not lose heart and continued to fight. And the lady Fortune rewarded them for this with an incredible sprint — 25:21.
The constant changing of the leader, which is quite normal in volleyball, continued in the second set — 1:3, 6:4, 6:7. Therefore, it was very difficult to predict the winners. However, we believed that the Ukrainian team would double the score in sets. The hopes of the fans coincided with the desire and strength of our players, who increased their momentum with each new rally — 14:10.
It was important for the blue-yellow team to prevent a repeat of the scenario of the previous segment, where the guests managed to overtake them, albeit for a short time. Therefore, when the French volleyball players started to implement their plan again, Ivan Petkov immediately took a 30-second break to slow down their pace at least a little. Fortunately, the Bulgarian coach was successful - 25:17.
The start of the third set was entirely up to the opponents. The Ukrainians looked somehow unbalanced in those minutes, because of which Russo's team scored points to their heart's content - 1:8. Later, the game did level up, but our girls failed to turn the tide of the set in their favor - 17:25.
The nominal hosts quickly forgot the previous failure, as evidenced by the numbers on the scoreboard — 4:0. Once again, Kraiduba showed herself perfectly: first, she elegantly put the ball under the sideline, and in the next episode she served powerfully — 6:1. The representatives of France were in the role of "catching ups" throughout the set - 15:7, 20:10. And, of course, they tried to fix it, but Petkov's wards could not be stopped - 25:11.
So, our athletes won Group C ahead of schedule. After all, for the round before the end of this stage, they are ahead of their competitors by two victories and six points. It is interesting that the last time the women's national team of Ukraine reached the "final four" of the European League was in 2017. Then they became the winner of the tournament, beating Finland in the final with a score of 3-1.
Starting line-up of the national team of Ukraine: Sharhorodska, Dorsman (c), Maievska, Milenko, Dymar, Kraiduba, Niemtseva (l).
