European Golden League-2023. Women. Semifinal

Pyatra-Neamts (Polyvalent Hall). Romania

June 25. 1st match

Ukraine — Czech Republic 3-0 (25:22, 25:23, 25:17)

The team of Ivan Petkov confidently started the semi-final series of the European Golden League-2023 against the volleyball players of the Czech Republic. Our ladies showed a well-coordinated game and in the end, got a well-deserved victory.

At the beginning of the meeting, the blue-yellow team had certain problems with reception on Ela Kulisiani's serve - 3:4. But they quickly recovered and began to dictate their game to the opponents - 7:4. One of the turning points of the first set could be a video challenge, after which a point was awarded to the Czechs. The latter won three more rallies in a row and once again broke into the leaders — 9:10. The "here-and-there" game continued, keeping the fans of both sides in suspense. In addition, the teams demonstrated impressive combinational volleyball, which added charm to the match.

Both teams didn't want to let each other go further than one point. However, everything changed after the "out" by our athletes in the attack — 19:21. Of course, Petkov reacted to this with a timeout, which was ultimately useful for his players: Anastasiia Maievska equalized parity with an ace, and Yuliia Dymar and Svitlana Dorsman turned everything upside down with a double block — 22:21. Soon it was exactly Yuliia who put an end to this set - 25:22.

The second set started with the lead of the Czech's team - 0:3. The latter has noticeably added in the actions on the block. In addition, the Ukrainians themselves lost the rhythm of the game, and the signal for that was a simple mistake when building their own combination — 7:11. The gap of four points between the opponents remained for some time after — 14:18.

However, Petkov's players did not give up and eventually achieved their goal. In that period, Anastasiia Kraiduba took over the leadership functions. First, she equalized the score, and later increased the advantage of her team - 22:20. The end was tense, but as a result, everything ended well for the blue and yellows - 25:23.

The third set was also difficult for both sides. The Czechs already had nothing to lose, so they began to take more risks. It was effective for some time, in particular, at the equator of the set, they led with a handicap of +3 — 11:14. And once again, the Ukrainian character has been demonstrated: our volleyball players made an incredible spurt (12:0) — 23:14. Of course, the opponents could not recover from such turn of the events - 25:17.

So, we congratulate the women's national team of Ukraine on the first confident step towards the final of the European Golden League-2023. The return match will take place on June 28 in Tabor, Czech Republic.

Starting line-up of the National team of Ukraine: Sharhorodska, Dorsman (c), Maievska, Milenko, Dymar, Kraiduba, Niemtseva (l).