Super Cup of Ukraine 2023. Men
November 15, 2023
VC "Prometey" - "Epicenter-Podolyany" - 1:3 (23:25, 25:22, 22:25, 20:25)
Starting line-up of VC "Prometey": Shapoval (scored 0 points), Yereshchenko (0), Stankovic (0), Teremenko (0), Hladenko (0), Boiko (l), Brova (l). Substitutes: Veletskyi (0), Kryvobok (0), Yevstratov (0), Dryja (0).
Head coach: Andrii Levchenko.
Starting line-up of "Epicenter-Podolyany": Jorna (scored 0 points), Tervaporti (0), Finger (0), Koval (0), Smoliar (0), Kisiliuk (0), Fomin (l), Zhukov (l). Substitutes: Drozd (0), Nalozhnyi (0), Uryvkin (0), Didenko (0).
Head coach: Mauricio Paes.
On November 15, the match for the first trophy of the 2023-2024 season took place at the PVLU arena, namely the match for the 2023 Super Cup of Ukraine. The winner of the 2022 League Cup "Epicenter-Podolyany" and the current national champion VC "Prometey" met in it.
The starting set was intense and emotional. Both teams served and attacked powerfully, and the volleyball players from Horodok were the first to take the lead (4:2 – 12:7). Podolyany had an advantage on the block (4 vs. 1) and the team's attack was slightly higher (65% vs. 50%). Although "Prometey" had several successful rallies (21:22), 4 aces against 1, but Mauricio Paes' wards were the first to reach the mark of 25 points - 25:23.
In the second set, the teams did not lose the pace of the game and continued to delight the audience with high-quality and fast game. This segment of the game was for the Dnipro team (8:5 – 15:11). But there was a substitution of the opposite player from Podolyany, Danylo Uryvkin came instead of Michal Finger. Uryvkin's ace led to an even score. (17:17). However, Dmytro Teromenko, middle blocker of the "red and whites", earned a break point in the same way (19:17). Then again an even fight (21:21). And fortunately for Prometey fans, Dmytro Shapoval got into the game just on time: his two consecutive attacks and touching the net from the opponent put the Dnipro team ahead (24:21). Dmytro Teromenko put an end to this set with an attack at the first pace - 25:22.
Shapoval's two aces put his team ahead at the start of the third set (5:2). However, the Dnipros' own mistakes did not leave a trace of that minimal advantage (7:7). Next was an ace from the Finnish setter of "Epicenter" Eemi Tervaportti (10:9), and then the attackers of his team fought back from the block (16:14). The team of Mauricio Paes was able to keep the distance (22:20) until the end of this set - 25:22 and 2-1 in favor of the Podolyany.
It seemed that in the fourth set, we should've had an intense struggle (2:2 - 7:7), but the players of the Epicenter-Podolyany team "took everything into their hands". In addition to this were the mistakes of the "Prometey", namely attacks straight into "out", and in the end, the "bisons" got a good advantage (10:8 - 12:9 - 14:10). It was not difficult to save these +4 points. As a result, 25:20 and 3-1 in favor of Podolyany.
"Epicenter-Podolyany" became the winner of the Super Cup of Ukraine 2023!
Dmytro Shapoval, the opposite player of Dnipro (22 points) became the most productive player of the "Super Cup" meeting.
The MVP award went to the Czech opposite player of Podolyany Michal Finger.
