Men's Super League-Budinvest
The match of the 3rd round has been postponed.
Chernivtsi. SC "Malenkyi Paryzh". December 7.
VC "Prometey" - "Epicenter-Podolyany" - 0:3 (20:25, 28:30, 19:25).
VC "Prometey": Dmytro Shapoval (6 points), Dmytro Yanchuk (13), Oleksandr Tomilin (13), Vitalii Shchytkov (3), Heorhii Klepko (7), Denys Veletskyi (2), Oleksandr Boiko (L) - starting line-up; Vadym Patratii (0), Serhiy Ryabov (0), Taras Oleksyuk (1), Eduard Shteryk (0).
"Epicenter-Podolyany": Maksym Drozd (8), Yevhenii Kisiliuk (13), Andrii Rohozhyn (8), Serhii Yevstratov (2), Oleksandr Nalozhnyi (4), Yurii Tomyn (4), Gorden Brova (L) - starting line-up; Vladyslav Didenko (0), Volodymyr Sydorenko (1).
Today's day has prepared a wonderful spectacle for all true connoisseurs of volleyball in our country. For the first time this season, two of the best Super League-Budinvest teams faced each other today - VC "Prometey" and "Epicenter-Podolyany". The rivals played a match within the 3rd round of the championship, which took place a month and a half ago. Before today's match, "Prometey" had a 3-point advantage in the standings, which was won by the victory of the opponent in three or four games.
"Epicenter" fulfilled its task, and in three parties, but at the same time, each of them kept the fans in suspense. The teams did not approach the match in optimal formations. The head coach of the championship leader, Andrii Levchenko, could not immediately count on three players of the main team - Dmytro Shorkin, Ivan Kryvobok, and Oleksandr Hladenko. All of them are just on their way back to the lineup after suffering injuries. In "Epicenter" due to health problems, the legionnaires of the team Nikolay Penchev and Ivan Raich could not take part in the match.
"Epicenter" won the debut of the match - 7:2, 11:4. At the start of the confrontation, the team from Horodok was stronger than the opponent in many components: serving, blocking, and effective attacks by opposite and outside hitters. So, for example, Yevhenii Kisiliuk scored 5 points in the first half of the set. In the second half of the set, two aces in a row by Dmytro Yanchuk could give "Prometey" the necessary impetus, after which the deficit of the Dnipro team was reduced to 4 points (13:17). The deficit of points of the leader of the championship in the final part of the game was reduced to three times, but the club from Khmelnytskyi region still did not lose the initiative and took the first set - 25:20.
Dnipro started the second set much more confidently - 6:2. At this moment, the head coach of "Epicenter" Mariusz Sordyl took a time-out, which initially did not help his team. The next break was taken by the Polish mentor very soon - with a score of 9:3 in favor of the opponent. Already in the second half of the set, the team from Horodok managed not only to equalize the score but also to take the lead (21:20). The winner of the set was determined in the "more-less" game. The team from Dnipro had a set ball five times (!) at once, but they did not take advantage of their chances and lost this very important set - 28:30.
After a ten-minute break, the teams alternately replaced each other in the leader status. "Prometey" minimally won the first half of the third set (13:12). As in the previous set, both teams' chances for local success seemed equal, but "Epicenter" spent the end of the set very powerfully - 25:19 its victory in the set and 3:0 in the match in general.
