European Championship-2023. Women
Group A. Fourth game. August 23
Ghent (Flanders Sports Arena). Belgium
Ukraine — Slovenia 3-1 (19:25, 25:23, 26:24, 25:18)
Our volleyball players defeated Slovenia and early booked their place in the playoffs of this year's continental championship. The girls prepared a wonderful gift for fans on the Day of the National Flag of Ukraine!
The Slovenians started the match cheerfully, competently reading all the combinations of blue and yellows over the net. Ivan Petkov had to take an early time-out because in the starting four rallies his wards did not score a single point.
The break did not go too well for the Ukrainians, because the organized block of the opponents was also accompanied by their own mistakes - 3:9. Marco Bonitta's team gathered courage and scored points as much as they wanted. The appearance of Viktoriia Danchak, Yulia Dymar, and Anastasia Maievska on the court only helped to reduce the gap - 19:25.
In the second set, the blue-yellow team noticeably increased their speed, which immediately stunned their opponents - 3:0. But after the ace of Saša Planinšets and another error in our attack, Slovenia leveled the parity - 6:6. The teams reached the finish line of this set with equal chances - 23:23. The net touch by the Slovenians and confident completion of the attack by Oleksandra Milenko led to the triumph of Ukraine - 25:23.
After the previous fierce two sets, Petkov's wards were, of course, getting ready for the upcoming tough fight. They understood very well that the representatives of Slovenia had nothing to lose. Despite this, the Ukrainians equally did not hold back the initial onslaught from their rivals - 5:10.
On the serve of Daria Sharhorodska, the Ukrainians earned a lot of breakpoints and tied the score - 12:12. Unfortunately, our leader Anastasiia Kraiduba was injured and could not continue the game. The ending turned out to be the most intriguing - 24:24.
On the eve of the match, we noted that Slovenia is a young team. And today it was not on hand for them. Somehow the girls got nervous, so they initially made a positional fault and then missed a serve from Victoriia Danchak, who put an end to the set and led the Ukrainian national team to the playoffs of the continental championship - 26:24.
In the fourth set, the Slovenians acted without the pressure and enthusiasm that was present in the previous stages. It was clear that their psychological state at that time left much to be desired. In the end, the blue-yellow team, on a wave of positivity, led the game to a total victory - 25:17.
Let's add that in the 1/8 finals of the competition, the Ukrainians will play against one of the teams of group C. Everything will depend on the final position of the national teams. However, it is already known that the game will take place in Brussels.
Starting line-up of Ukraine: Daria Sharhorodska, Svitlana Dorsman (c), Diana Meliushkyna, Oleksandra Milenko, Nadiia Kodola, Anastasiia Kraiduba, Krystyna Niemtseva (l).
Starting line-up of the Slovenian team: Nika Milošič, Saša Planinšec (c), Sara Najdić, Maša Pucelj, Lorena Lorber Fijok, Iza Mlakar, Katja Banko (l).
