Slovakia stunned by Ukraine in the Golden #EuroLeagueM

On Thursday, Slovakia and Ukraine entered the court in the Palace of Sports Yunost Zaporizhzhia for the only match scheduled in the Golden #EuroLeagueM. Both teams had the same goal – to determine who will finish on the first place in the current standings in Pool B after the end of the first tournament.

Inspired, Ukraine didn’t leave any chances to their opponents and showing better skills in all the components, seized a 3-0 victory. The Ukrainians outperformed Slovakia in all the elements of the game – 31 winning spikes (compared to 15 by the Slovak players); 16 kill blocks (6 for Slovakia) and 10 aces ( compared to 2 recorded by Slovakia). The team led by head coach Marek Kardos struggled to find their rhythm and let too many errors affect the final outcome of the match.
Thanks to this victory, Ukraine have already 6 points, while Slovakia follow them with 2 that have won after a tie-break vs. Romania on Wednesday.

– From the very beginning of the match, Ukraine, led by team star Oleh Plotnytskyi, took the initiative on the court. Maksym Drozd was also contributing a lot in the moments after. Even though Slovakia tried to show their best, taking the lead, with Vladyslav Didenko on the serve, Ukraine took control of the game and emerged victorious.
– Ukraine were on fire in the next set, finishing with 4 kill blocks and 5 aces in this part. Plotnytskyi and Drozd were the best ones for their team in these moments.
– Losing at 8 in the second set, Slovakia struggled in the last one, and couldn’t show their full potential or bring back the intrigue in the match.
– Plotnytskyi and Drozd topped the charts, recording 19 and 12 points respectively.