Belgrade, Serbia, September 26, 2011. In today’s deciding Pool A duel for the last spot in the second round, France overpowered Ukraine in straight sets (26-24, 25-14, 25-15). It was the first win for France at the 2011 CEV Volleyball European Championship in Serbia/Italy. France will most probably face the Czech Republic in Wednesday playoff matches for a quarterfinal qualification.
Best scorer of the match was Helene Schleck with 14 points. Inna Molodtsova and Nadiia Kodola contributed nine kills each for Ukraine.
There was nothing to separate the two teams in the beginning of the first set. Both squads were aware of the extraordinary importance of this match as it decided about staying or leaving. Ukraine had a three point lead at 15-12, but French superstar Anna Rybaczewski served four points in a row to turn the tables at 16-15. It was a fierce battle at the net with both teams showing several quick combinations. French head coach Fabrice Vial called his players off court at 17-19 to have a serious talk. From 22-22 to 24-24, both teams kept their hopes alive for a 1-0 set lead, before Rybaczewski added two other service winners to close the set out in extremis, 26-24.
At the start of the second set, France’s coach Vial still counted on second setter Mallory Steux who replaced Armelle Faesch for the deciding phase of the first set. It helped as the West Europeans led 8-6 at the first technical break in set No. 2. As they already did in the previous days, Ukraine struggled again with service reception, making it impossible for 41-years old (!) setter Iryna Komisarova to set up a fast game at the net. At the second technical timeout, the scoreboard already showed a seven-point gap in France’s favor. Maeva Orle finished the second set with another ace at 25-14.
A 33% quote of positive service reception for Ukraine after two sets was far from being enough to play on that kind of level at European championship. On the other hand, France seemed to be much more relaxed than in the first set when they felt the pressure of “now or never”. The match was over as a contest now; and after 72 minutes of play, French Helene Schleck closed the set out 25-15, and the match 3-0.
France head coach Vial Fabrice: “Congratulations to the Ukrainian team, they fought very hard tonight. But I have to say I’m very happy for the victory and very proud of my team. It was very important to win tonight, as we are looking forward to the match with Czech Republic. I hope we will win and reach the quarter-finals.”
France captain Anna Rybaczewski: “It was very difficult to win, but still we managed to do it. The next step for us is the encounter with Czech Republic. We will prepare ourselves very thoroughly for that upcoming match, we will watch their videos, and we hope we will win that game.”
Ukraine head coach Volodymyr Buzaiev: “Congratulations to France for the deserved victory. It was a very important match for the next stage, but we didn’t make it. This team is very young and inexperienced; we didn’t have enough time and matches to prepare ourselves for this championship. Furthermore, the most important player of the team was injured; that was a great setback for the team.”
Ukraine captain Iryna Komisarova: “I have nothing more to say, we hoped we would win tonight’s match and reach the next round of this championship. It was difficult tonight and we all are very disappointed we lost.”