22/09/2017 16:17
Russia start quest for third straight European title with tiebreak win over Ukraine
2017 CEV Volleyball European Championship - Women
Baku, Azerbaijan, September 22, 2017. Russia started their quest for a third straight European title in the best way – as the team captained by Ekaterina Kosianenko Pankova rallied to a hard-fought 3-2 victory (25-18, 20-25, 25-23, 23-25, 15-13) in the matchup with their neighbours from Ukraine. The 2013 and 2015 European champions had to work hard for their first victory in Baku as Ukraine put up a real fight – and the third set could have gone either way. Russia now expect another tough test in their next match in Pool C where they will take on Turkey, another potential contender for the medals that will be at stake on October 1.
Ukraine and Russia opened the programme of the 2017 women’s EuroVolley before a large crowd at the iconic National Gymnastics Arena, including a number of Russian and Ukrainian fans and many local ones, all anxiously waiting for Azerbaijan’s home debut due to follow later in the afternoon.
The spirited Ukrainian team caught a flying start to the match, playing bravely and without feeling any intimidation from the star-studded opponent standing on the other side of the net. Slowly but surely Russia found their rhythm, thus leading the way at both technical time-outs (8-5, 16-13), but Ukraine looked determined to put up a fight. The gold medallists from this year’s European League cut their deficit down to one point after the break before Russia’s well-oiled machine raised the quality of their performance to the next level, eventually claiming the opening set 25-18.
The course of the game did not change much early in the second set but a huge Ukrainian block on Nataliya Goncharova restored equality at 5-all. Ukraine eventually edged ahead at 10-9 before extending their advantage to three points at the second technical time-out, thus showing that they had not swept by chance eight matches in a row in their participation in this year’s European League. Anna Stepaniuk, Iryna Trushkina, Anastasiia Chernukha and team captain Nadiia Kodola joined forces to propel Ukraine to a rather surprising 25-20 win sealed by their rising star Stepaniuk.
Ukraine continued to play with much enthusiasm and energy also in the early stages of the third set, and Russia found it difficult to impose their physical prowess on such motivated opponent. However, halfway through the third set, Russia’s quality eventually came to the fore before Ukraine stormed back to contribute to a dramatic ‘money time’. Russia had their first set ball at 24-23, and Goncharova did not waste any such opportunity to double her team’s lead in the match.
Despite the boost of energy resulting from the ‘happy end’ of the previous set, Russia could not quite keep that same rhythm in the fourth one – with Ukraine rallying to an early 8-5 lead to stay alive in the game and re-lit their hopes of causing a major sensation at the same time. The respective superstars, Tatiana Kosheleva/Nataliya Goncharova for Russia and Nadiia Kodola/Anna Stepaniuk engaged in an exciting duel, with Russia drawing level at 14-all. Ukraine wasted a 19-17 advantage, Russia were two points way from victory at 23-all but Kodola & Co. stood strong to go for the tiebreak.
The Ukrainian sensation was about to materialise but Russia won a challenge on a block touch to turn a 4-6 deficit into 5-5 – and from there the reigning European champions scored three times in a row to move the charts to 8-5 at the side switch. However, the European League gold medallists fought their way back once again – with their rock-solid defence game being the name of the game as they clawed back to 9-9 – but Russia were the ones to celebrate in the end (15-13) after a match setting the tone for what promises to be a truly exciting European Championship.
Quotes
Ukraine opposite Anastasiia Chernukha top scored in the match with 27 points. “We really had some good chances and were only a few points away from a sensational victory,” she said. “I think we showed that if we play our best game and do not make too many mistakes, and if we stick together as we did today, we can play some good Volleyball. This is what we just did against the reigning European champions and we obviously hope to repeat that same performance in the next matches with Turkey and Bulgaria.”
“I do not think Russia underestimated us,” commented Ukraine coach Gariy Yegiazarov. “Any match is just equally as important when you play at the European Championship, so I do not think it was a close match only because Russia did not play their best. Ukraine was able to play to the best of their abilities and as a result, this was an incredibly close game. We had our chances not only to win this game, but we especially had opportunities in the third set, which we eventually lost – if this had gone our way, the match could have developed differently too.”
“This is my third European Championship,” said Russia captain Ekaterina Kosianenko, “and even though I am a two-time gold medallist already, I am hungry for more and want to win a third title in a row. My father [renowned Volleyball coach Vadim Pankov] back home is closely following us and cheering us on, and I look forward to receiving his feedback after this game.”
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