Ten years ago…

The magic numbers of the new year makes more and more to look into the past, remember the glorious pages of the history of the club, draw parallels. Very soon turns 20 years since, as "Gazprom-Ugra" plays in the Super League of the Russian Championship. In the meantime, let us remember the ten-year-old championship, season 2009-2010 years, when Surgut fought desperately for getting into the playoffs, addressing in parallel a whole heap of problems.

Before the season, the club made a bid for the stellar legionary Zbigniew Bartman and the first games of the Pole met expectations. At the start of "Gazprom-Ugra" I beat the house Kaliningrad "Dinamo-Yantar" Marcus Nilsson and young, but top-end Luciano De Cecco in the composition - 3:1. Bartman scored in the match 14 points, show 70% efficiency in attack, 19 points and 59% Igor Shulepov chalked up efficiency.

In the second round of Surgut took the metropolitan "Dynamo" and loss 1:3 looked tragedy. Again were good Bartman (15 points, 61%) and ?ulepov (14 points, 52%), good debut Vasily Nosenko (20 points, 50%). Also for the first time to the site in the Super League in this match came Alexander Gutsalyuk, who collected their first three points. Dynamo beat us on the block (15 against 5) and serve (7 aces against 4), and in general the composition of the team was then furious, with Roman Yakovlev diagonally, Berezhko, Sivozhelezov and Markin in doigrovku, Shcherbinin, Samoilenko and Volkov in the center. Nu and Theodore Salparov, who went to Moscow, from Surgut, He showed 77% positive reception.

But here's defeat in the third round in Ekaterinburg by the local "Locomotive-Emerald" rang alarm bell. Once again, we lost the feed unit and, and gave way to the diagonal and doigrovku Alexander Gerasimov and a pair of Bulgarians in the fourth zone - Hristo Tsvetanov and Todor Alexiev. The "Gazprom-Ugra" more or less failed in their duties and Nosenko Shulepov, but Bartman game failed (9 points and 33% implementation attacks).

In the fourth round of the home yielded Kazan "Zenith", while resisting a champion in the first game (24:26). Pass this time instead of Igor Kolodinsky came Artem Habibullin. In general, with Sergey Tetyukhin Kazan, Lloem Ball and Alexei Cheremisina did not let us lift his head, for this game, it was difficult to judge, what is actually happening with the team. But in the next three rounds, the picture has become more certain - three defeats in a row from the "Iskra", "Yaroslavich" and Novosibirsk "Locomotive" take us to the bottom of the standings.

A glimmer of hope appeared closer to the new, 2010 year. 5 December "Gazprom-Ugra" failed to stop a series of six consecutive defeats in the match against arch-rivals - Ufa "Ural". Sasha Starovych, Peter Veres, Alex Bovdi, Artem looked good Volvich, but finally erupted teeth and Surgut. Firmly took place at the base Gutsalyuk, put away match 8 blocks (yet 4 and 80% the attack - Maxim Proskurnia), I played well in the diagonal Andrey Maksimov (23 points, 49%), and the best on the court was again Igor Shulepov (24 points, 55% in attack, 3 block, 50% positive reception). Note libero and Alexander with Yanutova 69% positive in reception (true, his opponent was all Evdoshenko 72%). Anyway - long-awaited victory 3:1 (25:21, 25:27, 25:21, 25:22). The only problem - the position of the second doigrovschika. Zbigniew Bartman, plays an extremely unstable, by that time it was no longer on the team, but only just recovered from injury Alexei Rodichev was not yet ready to fully close this position.

In the ninth round 12 December Surgut hit in Belgorod at the local "Locomotive" - 0:3, but the benefits of this visit, undoubtedly, It was. Rafael Habibullin took to Surgut only just recovered from injury Dmitry Krasikov, which did not pass in the Belgorod, had in doigrovku Hteya, Biryukova and Ilyinykh. As a result - a week, in a game in Tyumen Krasikov was the most productive in the "Gazprom-Ugra" (23 points), and we won the Super League debutant score 3:1.

But the real Christmas story happened 30 December 2009 of the year, in a match with the venerable "Torch". Sean Rooney, Mikhail Beketov, Alexey Kosarev, Alexander Kritskii tried our best, but they lost in four games. Surgut victory went hard. 29:27 in the first game and the defeat - 14:25 - in the second. Again extended on the balance sheet set, 27:25, and only the fourth segment novourengoytsev able to push really, 25:17. Again flashed Krasikov (21 point, 57% in attack), did not let the rest of the foundation - Artem Habibullin, Igor Shulepov, Andrey Maksimov, Maxim Proskurnia, Alexander Gutsalyuk (4 block).

New, 2010-year, "Gazprom-Ugra" met in a good mood, back in the race for a spot in the playoffs. Indicators of the team ten years ago there were almost the same, as in "Gazprom-Ugra" of the early 2020 year - four wins in 11 matches.

The first match of the new year was almost exactly 10 years ago, 9 January - and it ended in humiliating defeat in Kaliningrad, 0:3. As the saying goes, there were no signs. But already 16 January - Zaruba in Moscow "Dynamo", 2:3. At Dynamo broke the Brazilian Dante (22 points, 62% in attack, 3 block, ace), but it does not yield Krasikov (26 points, 63% in attack, 2 block). Shulepov in turn (17, 52% in attack, 60% to accept, 3 block) nothing conceded Berezhko (16, 41% in attack, 62% to accept, 3 block). Note also the excellent game Maxim Proskurnya - 15 points, 6 blocks. They lost in the details and in the duel of the diagonal - 60% realization at Yakovlev against 36% in Nosenko.

Then - a victory over the "Locomotive-Emerald", defeat of "Zenith" and very important - both "material" and morally - winning in Surgut in Odintsovo "Sparks". In the umpteenth time a great match held Igor Shulepov, corrected figures Vasyl Nosenko, sustained level Dmitry Krasikov, and Maxim Proskurnya from the ousted Constantine Poroshin, build 4 unit and collected 13 points.

After receiving moral doping after his victory over "Iskra", "Gazprom-Ugra" came into this final grinder. Five of the six pre-final matches of the championship, we completed a tiebreaker. so, in order.

20 February victory in Yaroslavl, 3:2 and 15:13 in the fifth set. Maxim Mikhaylov chop us 29 points, We played more smoothly - at 18 in Nosenko and ?ulepova, 16 in Krasikov, 13 in Poroshina, 12 in Hutsaliuk.

27 February hardest Victoria Surgut, a tiebreaker compressing Novosibirsk "Locomotive". yielding 1:2, we took the fourth set 25:23 and fifth - 15:12. game characters - Igor Shulepov (20 points, 66%) and Vasyl Nosenko (23 points, 59%). losing reception, supply unit and, as well as committing to one's own mistake over, we have managed to win.

6 of March - is fundamentally a game with a direct competitor for a place in the playoffs in Ufa. Willpower we turned 0:2 in 2:2, but the strength is not enough to win, 11:15. After the match,, for three rounds before the end of the championship, Four teams - "Gazprom-Ugra", "Ural", "Dinamo-Yantar" and "Yaroslavich" - formed a tight group, to continue the battle for the final two spots in the playoffs. The distance between the seventh and tenth team - three points, the price of one victory.

13 March Surgut "Gazprom-Ugra" commits, it seemed, impossible, defeating Belgorod "Lokomotiv-Belogorye" 3:2. Situation - reverse Ufa, you have taken the first two sets, then brought it to a tie-break, which showed character - 15:10. An excellent game against former team held Krasikov, 69% positive reception, 54% realization in the attack, 17 points. He reiterated the Gutsalyuk - six blocks, 15 points, 86% in attack. In Belgorod five blocks built Lukasz Kadzhevich and Dmitry Musersky, doigrovku good look at his face and Biryukova Ilyinykh, but in the diagonal pupil of Raphael Khabibullina Stanislav Stanislav Dineykin he played as pale, Vasyl Nosenko as the hosts (10 and 11 points, respectively, for the implementation of 32 and 33%). Nevertheless, our direct competitors also tried to - "Ural" dry route Novy Urengoy "Torch", and "Yaroslavich" got employment 3:2 against the capital "Dynamo".

17 March Surgut predictably easy to cut with "Tyumen" - 3:0, "Ural" with the same score beat "Dinamo-Yantar", dropped out of the race for the playoffs, and "Yaroslavich" was stronger than the "Locomotive-Emerald". Thus, before the last round three teams scored 29 points, taking place from the seventh to ninth. All three rivals met in absentia 21 March, serious opponents: "Ural" opposed "Dynamo", "Yaroslavich" - "Zenit-Kazan", Surgut had to play in Novy Urengoy with "Torch".

"Ural" and "Yaroslavich" lost their matches with the same score 1:3, and additional indicators volzhane ahead Ufimtsev. And the "Gazprom-Ugra" fought in Urengoy. The first set - 25:19. Both teams take great, but we are better in attack (42% against 33%) and on the block (7 against 3). The second party - 30:28(!) to Surgut with absolutely equal game! In fact, it is this set will allow "Gazprom-Ugra" collect cherished points and ahead of "Ural" with "Yaroslavich", without going into the calculation of additional indicators.

But the game continued to rage of passion - "Torch" contested fifth place in the standings and was not going to give in. 25:23 and 27:25 - this is the account of a third and fourth sets for the home side, and the victory of the "Torch" in a tiebreaker, 15:11. Great game demonstrated Mikhail Beketov, collected 26 points at 52% implementation, the same number of points said Dmitry Krasikov, 20 Points scored by Konstantin Poroshin.

In such a tense struggle, literally on a ribbon "Gazprom-Ugra" pulled out a place for itself in the playoffs. Then it was defeated in the quarter-finals of the "Lokomotiv-Belogorye": losing in the first match in Belgorod 0:3, we could catch in the second match, but lost the tie-break.

Arriving in Surgut, Belgorod in the first game brought the number of wins needed to three. In the last match of the season, "Gazprom-Ugra" fought very well: I took the second set, and in the fourth succumbed to the minimum, 23:25. by the way, just in the last game of the season came true Alexei Rodichev, who managed to chalk up six points (67% implementation), including two units. lose with dignity, in the fight, Future serebryanomu medalist. We won the final seventh place and received a makeweight his first European ticket - on the Challenge Cup, after the failure of the Novosibirsk "Locomotive".

Эtot season offered disappointment Zbigniew Bartman, but the newly opened Dmitry Krasikov, summer received the call to the national team. Alexander declared himself Gutsalyuk, entrenched in the starting lineup. Very powerful second half of the season spent Konstantin Poroshin, Alexander consistently played Yanutov and Artem Habibullin (and played until now!), I began to go to the site Alex Rodichev, played Roman Martynyuk, The problems in the diagonal, which the club decides not immediately ... Best, perhaps, season in Surgut held Captain Igor Shulepov. Generally, normal, worker had a season - a lot of struggle, nerves, tie-breaks, young growth, Veterans returning and traumatized - all as we love to "Gazprom-Ugra".

All this has been - ten years ago. And still, trust, It is just beginning ...