Rzeszow, Poland, March 29, 2015. Uralochka-NTMK EKATERINBURG vs. BURSA BBSK is the final of the 2015 CEV Volleyball Challenge Cup - Women. The Russian team cruised on to another straight-set victory over Khimik YUZHNY in the second leg of the semifinals to comfortably claim a spot in the ultimate battle for the trophy. On neutral ground in Rzeszow, Poland, Uralochka shut out Khimik by 3:0 (25-22, 25-23, 25-17).
Unexpectedly, the symbolic hosts from Khimik were in the lead through the most part of the seed opening a gap as wide as 11-5 and 17-11. However, after 22-19, Uralochka exploded with a 6-point run to win the set by 25-22. There were no more surprises in the next two sets as the Russians were in complete control of what was happening on the court and did not allow their Ukrainian opponent to take the lead even for a moment. They won by 25-23 and 25-17 and starting packing for the finals.
Ksenia Ilchenko’s 14 points for the squad from Ekaterinburg were enough to make her the top scorer of the match. Hera teammates Sinead Jack and Irina Zaryazhko and Khimik’s Anastasia Chernukha accounted for 13 points each.
“I think that we did not show our normal level in reception. We could have won the first set, but own mistakes prevented us from doing it,” said Khimik’s captain Nadiia Kodola.
“We very glad about the result of the match, but not with the level of our actions. Khimik prepared for the game very well, but we blocked important balls and won the first set and broke their game,” commented the captain of Uralochka-NTMK Anna Matienko.
“We wanted to win very much and explored the game of Uralochka very thoroughly, but our players did not have the sufficient level of skill. The main element we lost for was the reception,” Khimik’s mentor Sergei Golotov stated.
“We had very serious games in the European Cups and the Russian championship so the players were tired. We did not have the same advantage in zone 3 as we did in the first match since our middle blocker Zaryazhko did not play that well. Neither did both setters,” said Uralochka’s head coach Nikolay Karpol.
Uralochka will entertain BURSA at home on April 8 and then will travel to Turkey for the decisive return match on April 12.
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