Zvezda win by one

The first leg of the women's was expected to bring a close and tough game between the hosts Zvezda Zvenigorod and the Austrian Hypo. These expectations proved to be right as Zvezda have beaten Hypo by 25:24, which leaves the decision for the second leg in Wr. Neustadt.

After a slow start, 1:1 in the 5th minute, Hypo dominated the first half of the game. The hosts seemed to be too slow in attack and they were not able to score against the Hypo's Englert.

On the other end of the court, there were more players who could score in the early minutes and the guests took a 5:1 lead by the 8th minute.

Evgeni Trefilov was forced to make a substitution in the goal. Sanko came on to replace Saidova and she was apparently more effective.

By the middle of the first half, the guests tried to come back in the game and they could get as close as 9:10 by the 25th minute. However, the good performance of Englert, Acimovic and the others gave Hypo a five-goal lead by halftime, 10:15.

And the last goal of the first half was probably the goal of the season! Oh played the ball to Do Nascimento in the air in the right wing position, and the Brazilian gave the ball back to Oh who also arrived in the air. Double kempa goal!

Different second half

The Russians needed just a couple of minutes in the second half to reduce the gap. The fourth goal of Andryushina and a Polenova 7-m shot made it 14:16 by the 35th minute.

There was no stop at this point and the Trefilov squad equalised for the first time of the game 12 minutes after the break. The hosts speeded the game up, while there were a couple of weaker performances in the second half on the Hypo side.

Vetkova equalised in the 19th minute at 20:20 with fine finishing and the Russians went on to dominate the rest of the game.

In the last ten minutes Zvezda had a chance to take some advantage for the second leg. They went 25:21 up with four minutes to go. At this stage Englert was decisive and the goals of Acimovic and Kirsner saved Hypo from a bigger defeat.

But at the end it was just Hypo celebrating, despite losing the game by 24:25. The Austrians seemed to be happier with the result.

Happier loser

”I was very satisfied with the first half,” said Hypo coach, András Németh. “I can definitely live with this result, but the second half was not good for us,” he concluded.

The former Hypo goalkeeper, Olga Sanko, commented at the end:

“We did everything we could, but the one goal advantage does not decide the final...”