11/03/2015 01:13
Khimik write history by progressing to Challenge Cup semis
2015 CEV Volleyball Challenge Cup – Women
Yuzhny, Ukraine, March 10, 2015. After routing their opponents last week in Norway, Ukraine’s four-time national champions Khimik YUZHNY repeated the same feat on Tuesday night cruising to another 3:0 victory (25-12, 25-14, 25-21) over Stod Volley STEINKJER to move on to the semis of the 2015 CEV Volleyball Challenge Cup – Women, their best result in international competitions to date.
The match got started with a serving error for the home side but Mina Tomic immediately scored for Khimik finding a way through a Norwegian triple block. After this, the players of Stod Volley sent the ball off the bounds twice in a row thereby propelling a 5:3 lead for YUZHNY. At this stage of the opening set, Khimik’s and Ukraine national team’s middle blocker Iryna Trushkina turned into the most difficult opponent to stand for the Norwegian receivers. She scored three aces in a row and this way called for the first technical time-out by the score of 8:5. Anastasiia Chernukha – who ended up the match top scoring on 16 points – helped widen the home side’s lead to a terrific 16:5 at the second mandatory break, with the set rapidly coming to a close at 25-12 Khimik’s way.
The game followed a similar plot also in the second set to the delight of the 1,300 fans in attendance at the Olymp sports hall. Khimik claimed an early lead and could hold on to it with the right blend of solid defence and powerful attacks. The home heroines quickly cruised to a 6:0 lead as Nadiia Kodola scored three times for Khimik. She then added another three points while standing behind the service line and the score rapidly moved up to 11:2. Even though the visitors finally found their way into the game and tried to fight back, Khimik responded with good blocks and attacks to keep control of the match. A single-handed block by Kateryna Kalchenko called for the second technical time-out at 16:5. Khimik kept the rhythm high all the way through the end and a powerful attack by Chernukha sealed the 25-14 that booked YUZHNY’s ticket to the semis.
As the final outcome of this double clash was already decided, home mentor Sergei Holotov used the third set as an opportunity to provide his second lines with a chance to join the actions. This way Stod Volley could keep the score a lot tighter and even dictate the tempo of the match at both technical time-outs (6:8, 14:16). However, Khimik just wanted to finish the game as quickly as possible and accelerated down the final stretch to seal a perfect 3:0 home win.
“We won because we served really well and we also followed the game plan we had agreed upon,” commented after the match Khimik’s team captain Nadiia Kodola.
“I want to congratulate the fans, the club’s management and my players on this victory. This is something historic and really a step forward,” said home coach Sergei Holotov. “I am 99.9% sure that our opponent in the semis will be Uralochka-NTMK EKATERINBURG and we feel ready to play such strong team.”
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