On January 10, Andrii Levchenko's wards took their first step towards reaching the quarterfinals of the CEV Cup 2024.
In the Romanian city of Mioven, which became the temporary "home" court of "Prometey", the Dnipro team hosted the Turkish "Fenerbahce" in the first playoff match of the CEV Cup.
CEV Cup 2023-2024. Playoffs. The first match
January 10 (Wednesday)
VC "Prometey" (Dnipro, Ukraine) - "Fenerbahce" (Istanbul, Turkey) – 3:1 (25:21, 25:15, 19:25, 26:24)
Starting line-up of VC "Prometey": Viietskyi (scored 12 points), Shchytkov (3), Teromenko (12), Dryja (8), Stankovic (6), Yereshchenko (17), Brova (l), Boiko (l). Substitutes: Yanchuk (2), Yevstratov (0), Shapoval (2).
Head coach: Andrii Levchenko.
Starting line-up of "Fenerbahce": Luburic (scored 2 points), Kooy (11), Yenipazar (3), Savas (9), Gulmezoglu (17), Yeşilbudak (l), Dengin (l). Substitutes: Peksen (0), Gurbuz (17), Penchev (0).
Head coach: Kerem Yerylmaz.
The starting set began with three aces of the "red and white": one of them belonged to Dmytro Viietskyi, and the other two were made by Mihajlo Stankovic (8:4 - 10:5). The coach of the Istanbul club, Kerem Yerilmaz, hastened to take a time-out and try to give his team a "wake up call". For a while, he succeeded: our opponents were able to win four rallies in a row (9:10), and later to equalize the score, thanks to the clever spikes of the Dutchman Dick Kooy and setter Murat Yenipazar (12:12). And then our Polish legionnaire Dawid Dryja reached the serving area: ace (14:12) and his complex glider organized a comfortable advantage (16:12). But the Turkish volleyball players were able to eliminate it after the time-out (15:16 - 20:21). In the end, the serve was decisive - this time, Vitalii Shchytkov's ace (24:20). The opposite Dmytro Viietskyi put an end to the opening set with an attack - 25:21.
The ace of "Prometey" captain Vitalii Shchytkov started the second set. Then there was a block by Dmytro Teromenko, in the next episode his teammates made the block, and an ace from Dawid Dryja made the advantage of the "Prometey" quite significant (6:2). It was difficult for our opponents to receive, but the Dnipro players were successful in defense (14:7 - 21:10). "Fenerbahce" looked confused, while Andrii Levchenko's wards, on the contrary, felt confident in their own abilities with each rally and kept maximum concentration until the end of the set. This time, Teromenko finished the set by serving an ace - 25:15.
In the third set, the teams kept their balance a bit (3:3). And then the players of Dnipro made several errors on the pitch (6:8), while the setter Yenipazar, on the contrary, did not make a mistake in this element, and his partners also worked successfully on the block and in the attack (6:9 - 6:13). The coach of the "red and whites" made several substitutions (Shchytkov - Yevstratov, Viietskyi - Shapoval, Yereshchenko - Yanchuk), but they did not change the situation at the court in the city of Mioveni (10:16). In the end, 19:25 in favor of "Fenerbahce".
With courage and positive emotions from the winning set, the players of the Istanbul team powerfully started the fourth set. The attacks of the opposite Gurbuz, the block, and the effective serving of Yenipazar were the result of three consecutive points (0:3). The opponent kept the distance in the score until the middle of the set (6:8 - 6:11 - 12:16). But the current champion of Ukraine did not give up hope of turning the tide of the set and fought to the last in every point (14:16). However, the opponent again made a rush (14:19 - 15:20), and it seemed that a tie-break was waiting for us. However, Teromenko scored with the first pace, and Dmytro Shapoval made an excellent block (17:20). Then Yereshchenko played back from the block twice, and Teromenko served an ace. The score on the scoreboard became equal (22:22), and the game continued until the first error (24:24). The Iranian middle blocker of "Fenerbahce" made a mistake in the attack (25:24), and Viietsky, fortunately, did not do the same in the next rally - 26:24 and 3-1 in favor of VC "Prometey".
The most productive player of this meeting was Yan Yereshchenko (17 points).
The return match will be held in Istanbul on January 18 at 18:00 Kyiv time. In order to reach the quarterfinals of the CEV Cup-2024, the Dnipro team needs to win two sets against the opponent.
