On March 8, the 2023-2024 season Super League-Dmart playoff series of the Ukrainian volleyball championship among men's teams started at the PVLU arena in Chernivtsi.
In the first match, the teams that, according to the results of the first stage of the competition, took the third and sixth places - "Epicenter-Podolyany" and "The team of Poltava region-VC Reshetylivka-Barkom-Kazhany", respectively.
Super League-Dmart 2023-2024. Men Playoffs. The first match in the series (3-6 places):
March 8 (Friday)
"The team of Poltava region-VC Reshetylivka-Barkom-Kazhany" - "Epicenter-Podolyany" – 0:3 (16:25, 18:25, 24:26)
Score in the series: 0-1
Starting line-up of VC "Reshetylivka-Barkom-Kazhany": Shavrak (scored 6 points), Sotnyk (15), Polishchuk (2), Boiko Ye. (7), Osypenko (6), Hriuk (3), Boiko M. (l ), Yakovliev (l). Substitutes: Zalizko (0), Valiaibaba (0).
Head coach: Serhii Sosnin.
The starting line-up of "Epicenter-Podolyany": Jorna (scored 5 points), Tervaporti (4), Finger (17), Koval (7), Smoliar (16), Kisiliuk (8), Fomin (l), Zhukov (l). Substitutes: Sydorenko (1), Didenko (0), Nalozhnyi (1).
Head coach: Mauricio Paes.
The starting part of the game was completely controlled by volleyball players from Horodok. The Dutchman Gijs Jorna served an ace, and a little later his example was followed by the blocker Artem Smoliar (7:2). The players of Poltava managed to close the gap (9:9 – 11:11). However, it was quite difficult for them to face the current winner of the Super Cup of Ukraine and one of the favorites of the current season. The Czech Michal Finger was brilliant in the attack, Smoliar was again effective in serving and the block of "bisons" worked perfectly well (18:13). In the end, 25:16 and 1-0 in favor of the Podolyany.
Deja vu occurred in the second set of the confrontation between the representatives of Poltava and Khmelnytsky regions: Smoliar served two aces again, and his teammates successfully completed all attacks from the passes of the Finnish Eemi Tervaporti (8:2). The Podolyany clearly followed the instructions of their Brazilian mentor Mauricio Paes and, as a result, won another set - 25:18.
After a long break, the situation on the court changed a little: the Reshetilivka team "woke up" and began to more actively impose a fight and put pressure on the opponent (12:9). However, the "bisons" quickly equalized the score on the scoreboard (15:15), which lasted until the end of the set (18:18 - 24:24). The captain of the "bisons" Gijs Jorna effectively finished the attack, and the next rally ended with an ace by Oleksandr Koval - 26:24. In the end, 3-0 in favor of "Epicenter-Podolyany".
The most productive player of the meeting was the Czech legionnaire of the Podolyany Michal Finger (17 points).
The MVP award went to the experienced blocker of "Epicenter-Podolyany" Artem Smoliar. He made 82% of attacks (scored 9 points out of 11), and made 2 blocks and 5 aces.
Watch online broadcasts of Super League-Dmart matches on the DIVISPORT channel on YouTube or Megogo and Sweet.TV platforms.
