II stage of Champions League qualification 2024 (men)
Group 6. 2nd round. November, 11th
Galatians Romania
VC "Prometey" — "Olympiacos" 1-3 (22:25, 25:21, 14:25, 21:25)
Starting line-up of VC "Prometey": Shapoval (18), Stankovych (5), Yereshchenko (18), Hladenko (6), Teromenko (5), Shchytkov (k) (2), Boiko (l), Brova (l). Substitutes: Yanchuk, Viietskyi, Kryvobok (4), Veletskyi.
In the match of the II qualifying round of the Champions League 2024 between "Prometey" and "Olympiacos", the Greeks were considered favorites. In the end, the latter confirmed their status by inflicting a second consecutive defeat on the "red and whites". This failure was fatal for our boys because they lost all chances to make it to the main draw of the competition.
Andrii Levchenko's wards made a great start (2:0). However, they failed to develop their local success. "Olympiacos" seized the initiative quite quickly, and soon the "pipe" attacks of Salvador Hidalgo and Rafael Koumentakis helped it to increase the gap to three points (8:11).
However, not everything is so simple. Mihajlo Stankovic knocked out the opponents from the reception with a tight serve and eventually returned the lead to Prometey, earning an ace at the same time (15:13). In fact, in those minutes it was difficult to predict the winner of the starting set because the representatives of Greece once again restored parity (19:19). The final rallies, unfortunately, were also better for our opponents — 22:25.
In the second set, the teams did not let each other go by more than two or three points for a long time. At the same time, it was the Ukrainians who dictated their conditions on the court (13:10). Next, a double block by Dmytro Shapoval and Dmytro Teromenko forced Daniel Castellani to use a timeout.
Closer to the end of the set, the handicap of the "red and whites" began to melt before our eyes (19:17). Therefore, Andrii Levchenko took the 30-second break as predicted. During the break, our guys calmed down a bit, then went out on the court and did their work quite well and confidently - 25:21.
The players of "Prometey" started the third set better (4:1). One of the creators of this success was Dmytro Shapoval, who took the courage to serve. The champions of Greece responded with a phenomenal spurt and radically turned the course of the confrontation (6:11). "Olympiacos" started to get everything and even more - both in attack and defense. We did not manage to get out of this psychological state - 14:25.
In the next set, the "red and whites" had to do their best to make a comeback. After all, the reception did not stick, which the opponents took full advantage of (1:7). During the set, our athletes managed to level the game and stabilize the situation on the floor. However, this turned out to be not enough for the victory - 21:25.
