16/12/2015 23:39
Ukraine’s champions need golden set to edge past LP KANGASALA
2016 CEV Volleyball Cup - Women
Yuzhny, Ukraine, December 16, 2015. Ukraine’s Khimik YUZHNY needed a golden set to edge past Finland’s LP KANGASALA and make the quarterfinals of a European Cup competition for the fourth consecutive season. Ukraine’s five-time national champions first lost the re-match at home by 1:3 (25-22, 20-25, 17-25, 16-25) but after that regrouped to win the golden set that followed (15-12) and get the right to play Germany’s SCHWERINER SC in January for a spot in the Challenge Round of the 2016 CEV Volleyball Cup – Women.
The match did not start well for Khimik as the hosts made many mistakes and quickly trailed 3:5, 6:8 and 8:10 in the opening set. The Ukrainian national champions finally found their way into the game when Alla Politanska went to serve. The setter of Khimik recorded two aces and her teammates followed up with some nice spikes, making it 12:10 for the hosts. LP KANGASALA’s head coach Ismo Tahvanainen asked for a break but Mina Tomic and Anastasiia Chernukha kept on scoring making it 16:11 for Khimik at the second technical time-out. The players from Finland fought for every ball and they reduced their gap to one point at 23:22 after a spike by Shelby Dalton. Still the final section of the set belonged to Khimik and Tetyana Kozlova sealed a 25-22 win for the home side.
Khimik needed one more set to secure their qualification for the quarterfinals whereas the second period was the last chance to stay alive in the competition for LP KANGASALA. As a result of their good net actions, the Finns edged ahead at 8:4 and made it 10:4 after a block by Jasmine Tahvanainen. Allison Mayfield helped LP KANGASALA keep their lead at six points (12:6) but Khimik finally woke up and stormed back to close in at 19:20. After a time-out by the visitors, the home heroines struggled to finalise their attacks and the second set went to LP KANGASALA (20-25).
Allison Mayfield paced LP KANGASALA towards an early 8:5 lead in set 3. After three mistakes in a row by the hosts, the Finns widened their advantage to 11:5 and they could hold on to it to finish the set at 25-17 and get full command of proceedings.
Khimik needed to win the following period to avoid the risks of a golden set but edged ahead only at the very beginning of set 4 (3:2, 4:3). LP KANGASALA relied on their American trio – Shelby Dalton, Allison Mayfield and Elizabeth Koberstein – to flip the charts around (9:6) and cruise to a commanding 25-16 to seal their 3:1 win and make amends for their home defeat last week.
The golden set was very tense and interesting at the same time. After a close start Khimik scored six consecutive points with Kateryna Kalchenko standing behind the service line. She turned into a nightmare for the receivers of LP KANGASALA but the Finns continued to fight and by combining good defence and attacks they closed in at 11:10. However, Khimik didn’t want to lose the game with 1,500 spectators loudly supporting them from the stands and after a close fight Anastasiia Chernukha ended this difficult game with a powerful spike (15-12).
“I want to congratulate our opponent on their victory. I am proud of my players who showed some excellent, modern-style volleyball. However, this is sports. Khimik was stronger than us in the critical and deciding moments,” said Finnish coach Ismo Tahvanainen.
“We felt tired after the four sets therefore we couldn’t win the golden set,” commented the American opposite player of LP KANGASALA, Shelby Dalton.
“We fought against a very good team which prevented us from showing our best volleyball. We reached our goal but we must raise the level of our game for the next round,” said Khimik’s mentor Sergei Holotov.
“We are very sorry for this game. We prepared very well but we couldn’t show our best performance tonight. Well, I am happy at least we could show our character after losing 1-3 and book the ticket to the next round via the golden set,” said the team captain of Khimik, Tetyana Kozlova.
Click here for more info including detailed stats of the match
|