After getting ahead twice on the scoreboard and seeing the Cubans come back on both occasions, the Ukrainians managed to triumph in a hard-fought tie-breaker to secure a 3-2 (25-22, 20-25, 25-20, 17-25, 15-12) victory, their second in Brazil.
The Ukrainians, who had swept Paris Olympic bronze medalists the United States in their first match in the event on Wednesday, now have five points in the VNL standings, appearing in third place.
The team’s most productive player in their victory against the Americans, opposite Vasyl Tupchii was again very solid offensively, tallying a team-high 18 points, with 15 kills and three blocks. Outside hitters Dmytro Yanchuk and Illia Kovalov were also instrumental, delivering 17 points each.
“This is an unbelievable start for us,” outside hitter Yevhenii Kisiliuk said. “It’s our first time in the VNL, and the atmosphere has been amazing. We wanted to be here for a long time, and now we just want to show that we can play at this level. It was a tough match, and going into the tie-breaker, we just gave everything we had to take the win.”
