CEV Champions League. Group stage. 2nd round
Kutna Hora. Czech Republic December 20
SC "Prometey" — "Volero Le Cannet" 3-2 (24:26, 17:25, 25:14, 25:15, 15:11)
In the 2nd round of the CEV Champions League 2022/23, SC Prometey met the French Volero Le Cannet, a difficult team, but, as it turned out, quite to the liking of the Ukrainian club. Today, Ivan Petkov's team won their first-ever victory in the group stage of the most prestigious club European tournament. And then what?! Losing 0-2 in sets, they made a comeback and pushed their rivals to the tie-break.
It was our athletes who took the lead at the start of the match — 3:1. In one of the protracted rallies, Svitlana Dorsman increased the margin of the "red and whites" to four points with a powerful shot - 7:3. In addition, in those minutes, the nominal guests could not counter the attacks of Oleksandra Milenko and Viki Savar. Daria Velykokon felt her teammates perfectly and therefore understood who and in what situation she needed to set to. What's more, the setter recorded points on her own account, in particular, successfully playing on the block - 16:13.
Towards the end of the set, the players of "Volero" clung to the points very well and eventually equalized the situation - 19:19. Savar's billiard shot on the sideline and the mistakes of the French team in the attack returned the three-point lead to "Prometey". Soon, an unsuccessful serve by Vita Akimova gave us several set balls - 24:22. Unfortunately, the opponents made a spurt in some inexplicable way and won the set - 24:26.
In the next segment, the teams alternately exchanged points, and for a long time none of them managed to break away by more than two points - 9:9. The guests were the first to do it. Petkov first reacted with a time-out, and then with a line-up rotation. However, the game of the "red-and-whites" did not improve in the same way: at that moment, a lot of things did not work out in the reception, because of which the attacking potential also suffered - 17:25.
The Ukrainian team rethought the course of events in the previous sets and went to the third set with a clear desire to take revenge in the face-off — 8:4. Next, Viktoriia Danchak showed her abilities to score, which forced the coach of "Volero" Milan Hrsich to take advantage of a 30-second break - 11:5.
After the time-out, the French team began to take more risks on their serves, which helped them to close the gap. But they did not rejoice for long, because then the players of "Prometey" took courage on the block and began to "cover" the opponents as if with a concrete wall. The final margin of our volleyball players was 11 points — 25:14.
In the fourth set, the psychological advantage was on the side of Petkov's team. In particular, they had a great serve, so Oleksandra Milenko and Anastasia Maiievska scored aces from the first minutes — 5:1. The Ukrainian team continued to maintain this handicap with efforts and perseverance, and after the double block of Svitlana Dorsman and Victoria Danchak even surpassed the previous success - 14:9. At the end of the set, the visitors literally lost everything, hence the score on the scoreboard — 25:15.
In the tie-break, "Prometey" also did not leave "Volero" any chance for triumph - 15:11. So, we congratulate the "red and whites" on their historic victory! Currently, they have risen to third place in the standings.
The face-to-face meeting of our other two rivals in Group B - "Alba Blaj" and "Vero Volley" will take place on December 21.
The composition of SC "Prometey": Daria Velykokon, Kateryna Huseinova, Oleksandra Milenko, Viki Savar, Yevheniia Khober, Anna Artyshuk, Kima Zharkova, Mirta Hrbach, Svitlana Dorsman (c), Viktoriia Danchak, Anastasiia Maievska, Krystyna Niemtseva (l), Anastasiia Karasova (l).
