European Golden League-2023. Women. Final

Pyatra-Neamts (Polyvalent Hall). Romania

July 6. 1st match

Ukraine — Sweden 3-0 (25:15, 25:20, 25:19)

The women's national team of Ukraine took a significant step towards overall victory in the European Golden League 2023. In the first final match of the competition, Ivan Petkov's wards were able to triumph in three sets.

Thanks to, in particular, organized actions on the block, it was our volleyball players who seized the initiative from the opening minutes of the confrontation — 6:2. After the predicted time-out of Lauri Khakala, the opposite Anastasiia Kraiduba immediately served an ace, which crossed out the nearest instructions of the coach of the Swedes.

Our rivals allowed themselves many mistakes, and at a certain moment they simply lost the rhythm of the match - 16:8. Therefore, almost every attack of the Ukrainians ended with an earned point - 21:10. However, the representatives of Sweden did wake up at the end of the set and put four break points in a row. Thanks to the efforts of Anastasiia Kraiduba, we managed to perform the reception and, so to speak, triumph in the second wave - 25:15.

At the beginning of the next set, the center of attention was Isabelle Haak, who effectively "covered" the shots of our athletes twice. Fortunately, the nominal guests could not develop this success. On the contrary, in response, the blue-yellows organized a solid spurt - 5:2. Soon Anastasiia Maievska's float forced the Swedish coach to take another break - 8:4.

At the equator of the set, the teams exchanged successful segments, but in the end, the handicap of four points continued to hold - 16:12. Anastasiia Kraiduba, who in those moments was simply unsurpassed in attack, had a lot of merit in this. However, once again Lauri Khakala's team added just before the end of the set and leveled the parity - 18:18.

Our players turned the heads of their opponents in one of the draws and scored the 21st point with a "pipe" (21:20). This moment gave them confidence, because after that Sweden did not earn any more points in this set - 25:20.

The third set was marked by "changing the leader" - 4:2, 4:6. Ivan Petkov did not put up with this development of events, so he took a time-out. During the break, the specialist had a separate conversation with Daria Sharhorodska. After that, the Ukrainian national team played more in combination, and the setter herself began to make high passes more often. Such a move, by the way, was successful — 9:8.  

Next, Kristina Niemtseva managed to keep the ball in the game with an incredible jump - the blue-yellow team had to finish the point. They also won the next rally, thus securing a comfortable margin and a psychological advantage — 13:10. The last few minutes were not easy, but in the end, it was the Ukrainians who had the strongest nerves - 25:19.

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