“Prometey Open” 2023. Second game
October 6, 2023 (Friday)
"Epicenter-Podolyany" - "Zhytychi-Polissia" - 3:2 (25:18, 23:25, 21:25, 25:19, 15:12)
Starting line-up of "Epicenter-Podolyany": Nalozhnyi, Zhukov, Didenko, Smoliar, Koval, Finger (0), Fomin (l). Substitutes: Sydorenko.
Head coach: Mauricio Paes.
Starting line-up "Zhytychi-Polissia": Shapoval, Orobko, Didovic, Vilimanovic, Luban, Babic, Khvasta (l). Substitutes: Rudnytskyi, Kniazev.
Head coach: Serhii Tereikovskyi.
The silver medalist of the Super League of Ukraine for the 2022-2023 season "Epicentr-Podolyany" came to the "Prometey Open 2023" with a far-from-optimal lineup: legionnaires-newcomers and some Ukrainian players are still in the national teams and are playing in the qualifying tournament for the 2024 Olympic Games.
But "Zhytychi-Polissia" updated its team with legionnaires: Bosnian outside hitter Alen Didovic returned to the team, as well as Serbian setter Andrija Vilimanovic and Montenegrin blocker Luka Babic.
The starting set was easily and without problems won by the volleyball players of "Epicenter": the excellent game of middle blockers - Artem Smoliar (4 blocks) and Oleksandr Koval (3 points) and 6 scored points by the newcomer, the opposite Michal Finger, as the result led to the score 25:18.
But in the second set, an exciting fight began. The teams fought for every point, attacked each other hard, and kept the intrigue going until the last rally (11:11 - 17:17 - 22:22). In the end, the volleyball players of the Zhytomyr team were able to keep their concentration - 25:23.
In the third set, the teams kept the intrigue for a while (7:7 - 13:13), and then "Zhytychi" were able to score three points in a row (16:13) and this advantage lasted until the end of the set - 25:21.
However, the Podolyany were not upset at all because of two lost sets, and on the contrary, they added in defense and attack, which gave them a comfortable advantage (17:11). The wards of Brazilian specialist Mauricio Paes were able to win this segment of the game and transfer it to a tie-break - 25:19.
The fifth decisive set began in favor of the "Bisons" (3:0), but the Zhytomyr players were not going to give up and quickly equalized the score (3:3). However, "Epicenter" broke ahead again thanks to the opponent's mistakes (7:4). After the change of sides, the situation did not change (8:5), and in the end, Podolyany celebrated the first victory at "Prometey Open 2023" - 15:12 and 3:2.
Tomorrow, October 7, at 15:00, the Zhytomyr team will play against Law Academy, and at 18:00, last season's finalists "Prometey" and "Epicenter-Podolyany" will meet.
Watch online broadcasts of matches on the YouTube channel DIVISPORT.
