The Ukraine men’s and women’s national teams have qualified to compete in the Volleyball Challenger Cup (VCC) for the first time in the history of the competition, following support provided by the FIVB through an ongoing Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The Ukrainian national teams booked their spots in the VCC after reaching the CEV European Golden League finals, and they will also be joined by the other finalists, the women’s national team of Sweden and the men’s national team of Türkiye.
The FIVB has been supporting the Ukraine Volleyball Federation in continuing its volleyball activities since 2022 as part of MoUs signed in 2022 and 2023. In total, the FIVB provided financial support up to USD 210,000 in 2022 across the men’s, women’s, U21 women’s and U22 men’s national volleyball teams, as well as Ukraine’s senior and U19 national beach volleyball teams, while the 2023 MoU covers further support up to USD 210,000 to support all of Ukraine’s volleyball and beach volleyball national teams with a focus on the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
In the women’s home-and-away semifinals, played on Sunday and on Wednesday, Ukraine mastered two victories over Czechia and advanced to the final series to be played next Thursday and Sunday, also in a home-and-away format. With that, they booked their ticket to the VCC 2023 to be held from 27 to 30 July in France.
Because of the ongoing war in Ukraine, they played the home leg of their semifinal series in the Romanian city of Piatra-Neamt. The Ukrainian women’s team head coach Ivan Petkov’s team managed an emphatic 3-0 (25-22, 25-23, 25-17) shutout of Czechia with a 20-point match high from opposite Anastasiia Kraiduba. In Wednesday’s return game in Tabor, the Ukrainians mastered another victory, this time in four sets, 3-1 (22-25, 25-11, 25-22, 25-16), with outside hitter Oleksandra Milenko leading the scorers with 21 points.
Ukraine advanced to the semifinals after topping the final Pool C standings. During the nine-team pool stage of the competition, they beat Hungary twice and exchanged victories with France.
Sweden, on the other hand, progressed to the semifinals as the best of the three pool runners-up. They finished second to Belgium in Pool A, only to face the same team in the semifinals. A fantastic Isabelle Haak led the northern Europeans to a 3-2 (24-26, 25-16, 16-25, 25-17, 18-16) home victory in Lund on Sunday with an impressive 38 points to her name. She excelled with another 27 points over the three sets of Wednesday’s away match in Roeselare, in which Sweden swept Belgium by 3-0 (25-20, 28-26, 25-17). The Swedish women’s team will also participate in the VCC for the first time.
CEV Volleyball European Golden League 2023 - Women: all results
In the men’s European Golden League, the semifinals and the medal matches were played on 24 and 25 June in the framework of a two-day Final Four tournament in Zadar, Croatia. Ukraine qualified for the semifinals after cruising through the 12-team pool stage of the competition undefeated in their six Pool B matches against Belgium, Croatia and North Macedonia.
In Saturday’s semifinals, they once again outplayed hosts Croatia. With opposite Vasyl Tupchii leading the way with 18 points, the Ukrainians managed a 3-1 (25-23, 21-25, 25-21, 25-12) victory to stamp their reservation for the next day’s final and for VCC 2023.
In the other semifinal, Türkiye, who topped the Pool A standings, overcame the resistance of Pool C winners Czechia on the way to a hard-fought 3-2 (22-25, 25-17, 19-25, 25-23, 15-12) win. Outside hitter Burutay Subasi led the Turkish scorers with 17 points.
Another five-set battle unfolded in Sunday’s final. Türkiye, who will play in their third consecutive VCC edition after finishing as runners-up last year, just short of qualifying for the Volleyball Nations League, emerged on the winning end of a 3-2 (14-25, 25-22, 26-24, 22-25, 15-6) duel. Ukrainian star Oleh Plotnytskyi was the best scorer of the match on 20 points. Sub-in Kaan Gurbuz scored 19 points for the winners.
Ukraine’s Illia Kovalov spikes against Turkish double block during the Golden League final (Photo credits: cev.eu)
CEV Volleyball European Golden League 2023 - Men: all results
Source : fivb.com
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