They pulled out victory by the teeth

"Gazprom-Ugra" (Surgut): Ozhiganov - Shakhbanmirzaev, Shevlyakov – Kurbatov, Rodichev – Korotaev, Obmochaev/Nagaets

"Ural" (Ufa): Ushkov - Potalyuk, Gutsalyuk - Yakutyn, Kovacevic – Ebadipur, Budyukhin/Frolov

In the first set, Gazprom-Yugra took the lead quite confidently, despite the abundance of defective servings. Our guys took risks and made six mistakes in the first half of the game, but thanks to the efforts on the grid, where can we distinguish Korotaev’s attacks from the four, maintained control. A block on Kovacevic in a long rally led to the score 13:10 and replacing Ushkov with Butko. Kovacevic redeemed himself with an excellent serve and a completed finish from the back line., 13:12.

Pass to Kurbatov on a clean net is a little too high, Dmitry does not cover the ball and it flies into touch, Immediately Potaluk puts an ace on the line, 15:16. It’s Kurbatov’s turn to correct himself – Gutsalyuk’s access is blocked, 17:16. Rodichev chooses the right position and fights back twice in defense, but Rajab, which goes every other time, rests on the block, 17:17. And then the hosts make a decisive breakthrough on Ebadipur’s serve, largely thanks to our mistakes: Gutsalyuk scores a passing goal, Rajab advances to the three-meter line when attacking from the baseline, and then settles in the Kovacevic block. Replacing Ozhiganov with Kirillov gives nothing - Ebadipoor hits an ace and everything becomes crystal clear, 17:22 and 19:25 eventually.

The missed first set did not make the Surgut team give up, although we had to replace Rajab with Vyacheslav Rudnev in the opening of the second game. After 11:11 we're leaving for 14:11 on Rodichev's serves: Korotaev scores twice. There were still pre-game chances, but the same Korotaev failed, and Kirillov offensively touched the net in a protracted rally. Emergency discount Ionov, replacing Kurbatov, becomes prey to the block, 15:14. Kirill returns his, closing Gutsalyuk, 17:14. Rodichev converts a freeball on Korotaev's breaking serve, 19:15.

Rodichev is good here, Ebadipur and Kovacevic answer him, 20:17. We take away the ending through Gutsalyuk’s mistake on serve., Rudneva's ace - the ball flew into Potaluk's foot, and block Kovacevic on a high ball, 23:17. Everything is clear here too: in response to Rudnev's intervention in the attack, Kovacevich intervenes on a set point when executing the serve, 25:20.

We fail the debut of the third installment 1:6: we can't film, and Potaluk and Ebadipur confidently score the extra games. Replacing Kirillov with Ozhiganov, Rudneva on Shakhbanmirzaev plus a time-out did not give much result. Korotaev blocks Potaluk with a block, but in the next draw we get into the network, Rajab is again not friendly with the three-meter line and Rudnev returns to the court, and the account is already 4:10. The advantage gained at the start is enough for Ural, to calmly bring the set to victory, 18:25.

The Surgut team entered the fourth set with Kirillov, Shahbanmirzaev and Kurbatov. Gutsalyuk's early ace with a short serve (1:2) outlined the home team's advantage. Important video review on the mark 3:5 He showed, that Korotaev successfully flattened the ball, caught the line, 4:5. Ushkov is mistaken here, not finding Yakutin's transmission, 5:5, but Potaluk’s powerful serve and his equally impressive finish without a block restore Ural’s breaking advantage, 6:8.

Nikita Alekseev replaces Rajab, and we continue the chase. With good finishing, Kirillov begins to feed the center, and after Yakutin touched the net in a long rally, we take the break, 11:11. begin swing, which are shifting in favor of Gazprom-Yugra due to two mistakes of Ufa residents: Potaluk and Ebadipoor do not put the ball in the field, 15:13. Butko comes on instead of Ushkov and immediately saves the ball flying away from Kirillov’s excellent serve at the referee’s table - Potalyuk scores an accident, not allowing guests to build on their success, 15:14.

We keep the gap to a minimum, We earn the next break ball with Alekseev’s emergency attack from the spot - the ball falls from the rope behind the blocker’s back, 20:18. It's a tough fight, the next break is ours again: Korotaev and Alekseev are stopped, but the insurance works, and Kirillov, showing an attack, pulls Gutsalyuk up and gives it to Alekseev for one block - 23:20. The hosts are approaching closely: pipe implemented by Kovacevic, and Korotaev sends a difficult ball into touch, 23:22. A time-out taken in time interrupts Potaluk's series of innings, Ebadipur resumes intrigue, 24:23. But Alekseev with a blow from the block closes the tiebreaker issue, 25:23.

In a shortened set, which we haven't won for a long time, "Ural" led 6:3. Another time-out and again Potaluk after the break fails to cope with the serve. Rudnev comes out to put the ball into play and effectively loads it into Kovacevic’s move.: Korotaev scores a passing ball, Potaluk's attack in "strong" mode, but by” forces Igor Shulepov to take a break. Doesn’t help – Kurbatov blocks Ebadipur’s attack, and after replacing Ushkov with Butko, the Iranian sends an emergency ball into touch on a knocked out reception, 8:6.

After changing sides, the referees whistle for a delayed ball in the Nagaitsu defense, who took Kovacevic's blow with open hands, 9:8. Gutsalyuk targets Kirillov with a serve and Korotaev’s discount from the deuce on a high ball is caught by Butko, who came third to block, 9:9. Rafael Khabibullin reacts by tactically replacing Korotaev with Shakhbanmirzaev, who is accustomed to the second zone - Rajab is withdrawn. Ushkov replaces Butko for serve, Kovacevic scores twice, Alekseev hits the block on the emergency ball and brings the Ufa team to an exhale at the finish, 10:12.

Ushkov serves out, and in response to the serve Ozhiganov comes out. Also a working option: Kovacevic hits the rope on a high ball, trying to get around the block, 12:12. The Ufa team is the first to take the match point – Ebadipur hits the allotted ball, which flies into the antenna. Video review captures, what at the hands of the blockading Surgut residents, 13:14. Two errors by the Ufa team on serve in exchange for one by the Surgut team are recorded 15:15 on the scoreboard and Shevlyakov, who rarely makes mistakes when putting the ball into play, but we get a lot of break balls on his gliders. It happened this time too: Alekseev handles Potaluk's attack in defense, Ural mitigates Gazprom-Yugra's response with a block, but Ebadipour ends up firing a narrow ball wide of the area, bringing match point to our team. Ebadipur unsuccessfully takes the decisive ball from above, his disorganized attack is softened by a block, the ball hovers over the net and Kirillov takes over the game, unscrewing the ball from the block. The hosts are trying to save themselves in defense, but in vain - 17:15.

Strong-willed victory of Gazprom-Yugra in the game, riddled with errors, roster rotation, searching for reliable options in attack. That's exactly what worked, that's the only thing that could work: patience, cohesion, dedication, the ability to get up and keep fighting, forgetting about missed opportunities. Kovacevich, Ebadipur and Potaluk solved their problems, but Ural was missing something, to confront our character. Such victories are especially pricey: against the background of fatigue, when everything doesn't work out. Yes, the opponent also did not show his maximum, but the ability to take what is yours against this background is very expensive. We won’t talk about the importance of victory for the tournament position., it's already clear, that now every match is worth its weight in gold. I repeat: Very good, that Gazprom-Yugra has cultivated in itself, if not a killer instinct, then iron resistance to all obstacles. Well done guys. Now we need to recover as quickly as possible: new ones are waiting for us very soon, no less difficult and significant battles.

Dynamo-Ural (Ufa) 2: 3 Gazprom-Yugra (KhMAO-Yugra)

match stats

Details

Date	Time	Championship
07.02.2024	19:00	CR 2023-2024

Results

Team	1	2	3	4	5	GENERAL.
Dynamo-Ural (Ufa)	25	20	25	23	15	2
Gazprom-Yugra (KhMAO-Yugra)	19	25	18	25	17	3

Dynamo-Ural (Ufa)

1	2	3	4	5	S	K	E	FACING	B	PTS
0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Gazprom-Yugra (KhMAO-Yugra)

1	2	3	4	5	S	K	E	FACING	B	PTS
0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0