Qualification for the 2024 Olympic Games. Women
Ningbo, China. Group A
September 22. Fifth round
Ukraine — Canada 1-3 (22:25, 25:23, 12:25, 11:25)
In the match against the Canadians, it was very important psychologically for our volleyball players to finally start the number of sets won. At the same time, they played against the team that defeated the Dutch and Chinese in this qualification.
The start of the meeting was left to the blue-yellow team, who defiantly entered the game - 3:0. "Maples" quickly corrected the situation on the court: after Alexa Gray's ace, the score became equal - 5:5. The representatives of Canada periodically took the lead for some time, but errors on the serves did not give them the opportunity to make a spurt.
Soon the teams switched roles, and it was the Ukrainians who began to have minimal initiative. Still, the players continued to exchange points steadily — 17:17, 21:21. In the end, Hillary Howe took over the role of leader. Four successful actions by the outside hitter in a short period of time helped Canada celebrate the victory in the first set - 22:25.
It was not sweet for "maples" in the next set. Our volleyball players felt that they could finally win at least one set, and then compete for the overall victory. Two consecutive servings from captain Svitlana Dorsman only underlined these words - 8:11.
After a time-out from Shannon Winzer, the blue and yellows continued to increase their lead — 9:17. Unfortunately, there was a real failure in their game, which led to the fact that the representatives of Canada caught up with the opponents - 22:22. On the power of will, our girls still pressed their rivals - 25:23.
In this confrontation, anything could be expected from the teams. However, the domestic fans clearly did not expect to see such a total advantage of the opponents in the next two sets. Perhaps too much strength and emotions the Ukrainians left in their winning set - 12:25 and 11:25, respectively.
Starting line-up of Ukraine: Daria Sharhorodska (3), Svitlana Dorsman (c) (11), Diana Meliushkina (4), Oleksandra Milenko (13), Nadiia Kodola (3), Anastasiia Kraiduba (16), Krystyna Niemtseva (l) . Substitutes: Yevheniia Khober (4), Yuliia Dymar (1), Anastasiia Maievska, Viktoriia Danchak.
