Champions League 2024 (Women)
February 7. Play-off (match-answer)
Istanbul (Burhan Felek Volleyball Salonu). Turkey
"Eczacıbaşı" — SC "Prometey" 3-1 (25:20, 25:15, 23:25, 25:16)
The fairy tale of the current champions of Ukraine in this year's Champions League draw has come to an end. "Eczacıbaşı" defeated SC "Prometey" for the second time and made it to the quarterfinals of the competition. Ivan Petkov's wards return home with one game won.
From the start of the match, Marta Drpa and company tried to keep up with the Turkish team. After the ace of our opposite player, the "red and whites" generally took the lead. Melissa Bukman secured the success of her teammate with a successful attack (3:5). Ferhat Akbash took a time-out, which did not immediately affect the course of the game (8:11).
Svitlana Dorsman, Bojana Milenkovic and other scorers of "Prometey" held a high bar in attack in those minutes. In addition, we had a good serve, which Marta Drpa once again confirmed (11:15). The owners of the court, in particular, thanks to the efforts of Tijana Boskovic, reduced the deficit to one point. And in the next episode, Sinead Jack-Kysal evened the parity. This moment became a turning point in this set — 25:20.
Ivan Petkov made substitutions: Viktoriia Danchak and Anastasiia Maievska appeared on the court. The successful actions of the central blocker helped the "red and whites" earn several important points at the beginning of the next set (5:4). The Turks had the initiative in this section. Although our players tried to keep the pace of the opponents, and for a long time they succeeded (15:13). Next, we witnessed the rapid spurt of "Eczacıbaşı". It turned out to be decisive not only in the set but in the series as a whole - 25:15.
Despite the fact that "Prometey" lost its chances to advance to the next stage, it did not stop at all. It was very difficult for the Ukrainians to win at least a set. They transformed this desire into comfortable leadership (7:13). At a certain moment after the double block of Daria Sharhorodska and Anastasiia Maievska, the mentor of the Turkish team had to take the second time-out (8:15). This did not prevent the "red and whites" from earning four set balls (20:24), which Bojana Milenkovic realized only with the last attempt — 23:25.
In the fourth period, we also saw a relatively even game with some differences from both sides (6:5, 9:10). On its equator, Yasemin Shahin's tight serve knocked our athletes out of the reception, which gave the hosts a double advantage. With each subsequent rally, they only increased the gap - 25:16.
Starting line-up of SC "Prometey": Meliushkina, Dorsman (c) (5), Bukman (13), Milenkovic (11), Drpa (6), Sharhorodska (3), Niemtseva (l), Vasylieva (l). Substitutes: Maievska (7), Danchak (12).
