Let's give it our all

On Sunday Gazprom-Yugra will play at the Premier Arena with Novy Urengoy Fakel. Now it is impossible to divide matches into key and not so important ones., each one holds the key to the playoffs for our team. In the first round we lost in Novy Urengoy 2:3, still without Alexey Rodichev, and Sergei Grankin and Vladislav Babkevich were absent from Fakel.

We will never see Babkevich, he moved to St. Petersburg Zenit, but Grankin will play. Not to tell, that the team has changed under him, "Fakel" plays unevenly. In the last round, they lost to Yenisei on their site. 0:3 (two batches ended in balance), and before that, he lost to Ural in a tiebreaker in Ufa. But here 8 January in Kemerovo Novy Urengoy defeated Kuzbass 3:1. In any case, they now have twice as many victories, than ours - eight.

Key, besides Grankin, figures on the site: finisher Stanislav Dineikin, his father's namesake, student of Rafael Khabibullin, Honored Master of Sports Stanislav Dineikin, perspective diagonal Cornay Enns, middle blocker Alexei Kovalchuk and Argentina libero Santiago Danani. After the departure of Babkevich, the 18-year-old MVP of the Youth Volleyball League of the season proved himself well 2022/2023 Vasily Kapranov, son of team director Nikolai Kapranov.

"Torch" is good because, that the team has someone to come out of the square and help: this is the diagonal Nikita Morozov, and setter Mikhail Vyshnikov, and libero Evgeniy Andreev, well known to Surgut residents, central Vitaly Dikarev, finisher Vadim Yutsevich. There is also experienced Evgeniy Sivozhelez in the team.

Generally, as they say, a fusion of youth and experience, moreover, very promising youth and very qualified experience. Before the season there were cautious forecasts about the fight for medals, but Babkevich left, and in general, the game for Roman Empolov’s team is going in waves. At what height this wave will be in Surgut is an open question, but in any case we need to concentrate on our game.

The victory in Sosnovy Bor lifted everyone's spirits, but the gaming problems have not gone away. Primarily, this is a game in the fourth zone, which could become key in the fight in “Torch”. Alexey Rodichev is gaining momentum and solving many complex problems with experience (Let’s remember at least the ending of the second set in Sosnovy Bor), but the second window of opportunity is now more like a window. Ivan Korotaev, in which we all believe, It's been acting up lately, The coaching staff is trying to fill this position with either young Ivan Skvortsov, or experienced Dmitry Krasikov, or diagonal Nikita Alekseev. Somewhere it turns out, somewhere not, Gazprom-Ugra closes the regular season in St. Petersburg - sounds nice, mainly, necessary stability.

We still have large reserves in supply. Yes, Rajab gave an extravaganza against Dynamo-LO, Kirillov served well, consistently diverse and useful in this element Vadim Ozhiganov. But the potential is not even half used. And in the last home games our serve doesn’t fly for some reason on our home court.

Now about reserves, who earned. Rajab Shakhbanmirzaev enters high orbit, Dmitry Shevlyakov was pleasantly surprised in the last match - the emergence of a second reliable center is very important for the team. Petar Krsmanovic demonstrates his highest level, Nikita Nagaets performed well against Dynamo-LO. I would also like to say about Maxim Kirillov. He used to be a cameo player: go out to serve, let Vadim Ozhiganov rethink the game, etc.. Parties, which he played, looked, rather, sacrifice for the sake of becoming a young setter. Nowadays, before our eyes, Maxim is turning into a full-fledged combat unit, capable of holding the threads of the game in her hands, what is critical for a player of his role. Ahead, of course, still a lot of work, but progress is obvious.

The main thing is, that all Gazprom-Ugra players fight on the court for victory and each other in any match. “Fakel” is another very serious opponent, another test of strength. No matter, what will be the final score on the scoreboard?, important, that our guys will give it their all, to please your fans. And the fans are simply obliged to fill the stands of the Premier Arena next Sunday and give their team deafening support. Big volleyball continues in Surgut, Start 21 January in 19 hours, waiting for you!