SECOND IN MINSK, AHEAD – PETER!

At the International Tournament in Memory of Lev Chaylytko in Minsk, which ended on the first day of autumn, Gazprom-Yugra took second place. In total, the team played six matches in five days in Belarus, – preparatory work for the season is in full swing!

Recall, that the team immediately left the plane for a friendly match with the Belarusian national team and played a draw - 2:2. The next day in the morning there was a sparring match with Shakhtar Soligorsk (2:2), and in the evening - with the Minsk “Builder” (3:0).

The first match of the Gazprom-Yugra tournament was played against Zenit Kazan, who brought to Minsk a fully combat-ready squad with Vadim Likhosherstov, Alekseem Samoilenko, Denis Zemchenko, Fedor Voronov, Andrey Surmachevsky, Valentin Krotkov. During the game it was noticeable, that Surgut residents are under serious pressure, hence the natural loss of the first two sets to a more recent opponent with the same score 19:25.

In the third game, with Alexey Pluzhnikov serving, our team made an excellent start - 9:1, but against the backdrop of a better functional state, Zenit managed to extract the necessary reserves and won the flag - 23:25 and 0:3 in the match. In the second game of the day, Minsk “Stroitel” beat Moscow MSTU in five games.

The next day Gazprom-Yugra played with the Muscovites. This meeting was not an easy walk for us either., but the higher class of Surgut residents still affected the result. We pulled out the first set in an equal ending - 26:24, in the second they prevailed much more confidently - 25:18, in the third we got a little worried on Makar Bestuzhev’s serves, but still prevailed, ace Ruslana Galimova scored a point, 25:21. In the second match of the day, Zenit Kazan defeated Stroitel, not without problems - 3:2.

The match of the third game day between Gazprom-Yugra and Stroitel after Zenit’s victory over MSTU became, in fact, fight for second place. The debut of the meeting did not foreshadow any special problems for us, the Surgutians calmly took the lead 1-2 points, had several replays, capable of further increasing the gap, but... When you miss your chances, they appear at the opponent's. Minsk residents dragged Gazprom-Yugra to an equal ending (21:21), where we failed in the formation with the diagonal in the fourth zone, 21:25.

A similar scenario played out in the second set, with the only difference, that the game was initially more equal and stubborn. Having reached the mark 22:22, ours stumbled again at a decisive moment, 22:25. The third game – and again an equal game. Minsk residents felt the taste of imminent victory, but closer to the end, cooler decisions brought an advantage to Gazprom-Yugra – 20:17. Nevertheless, loss of concentration leads to another balance – 23:23, with the only difference, that this time we waited for the opponent’s key mistakes: Brazilian striker “Stroitel” Santos hits the rope when attacking with a pipe, 27:25.

And then the Surgut team stabilized the game in reception and, mainly, improved the game on the block. Until this moment, we had practically no effective actions in this element., and the final protocol was recorded 13 points, dialed in block! Denis Chereisky, who came out in the second half of the game, did his best, chalked up 7 blocks. We snatched the fourth set from our opponent with the same score - 27:25, and in the fifth they put the squeeze on - 15:12. A strong-willed victory against the backdrop of a protracted gaming session demonstrates, primarily, the strength of the team's character. It’s too early to talk about any obvious gaming advantages, although noticeable, that Surgut residents are trying to play speed volleyball.

The break in gaming practice will not be long - already 4 September in St. Petersburg, Gazprom-Yugra will open its participation in the Vyacheslav Platonov Memorial with a match against Belogorye. Also in the same group with us are the same “Zenit-Kazan” and “Dynamo-LO”.