I didn’t take Kazan

"Zenit-Kazan": Rukavishnikov - Klets, Shcherbinin – Romanovsky, Volkov – Enin, Fedorov/Krotkov

"Gazprom-Ugra" (Surgut): M.Kirillov – Papazov, Shevlyakov – Fedorov, Rodychev - Slobodyanuk, I.Kirillov

Alexey Verbov gave the leaders a rest, sending only Dmitry Volkov into battle from the starting lineup. But Kazan’s backups are also impressive, Zenit can afford to keep its squad square, capable of easily beating half of the Super League.

The opening of the match was equal, 6:6, after which the hosts ran ahead (10:6) – Rodichev and Papazov couldn’t handle high balls. But we got the block working: Shevlyakov issued a personal cover to Romanovsky, and two “pots” of Kletsu (Rodichev tried) equal score returned to the scoreboard, 14:14.

However, that's all: in the next draw Rodichev didn’t believe it, that Rukavishnikov would give it to Klets again and he scored on a clean net, after which Romanovsky gave a series of powerful serves, and Papazov and Rodichev again did not help out, 14:18.

Serov came on instead of Slobodyanyuk, and a series of varied serves, ending with an ace, this time it was Rukavishnikov who gave it away, 15:22. The knocked out technique did not allow the Surgut team to take off, and the Kazan team were ruthless in the final game. Towards the end, Serov scored with a good shot into the line, but the last word remains with Enin, 18:25.

The second game started with an ace from Volkov, but Gazprom-Yugra waited for the opponent’s mistakes: Enin threw out, Klets hit there too, 5:2. “Zenith” removed the defect and pressed the serve: Enin undermined our reception, and Volkov won playoffs, 6:10. Instead of Rodichev, Slobodyanyuk appeared on the court until the end of the match. Meanwhile, it was the turn to serve it to Romanovsky - the same picture: we can't score on a downed move, in response, “souvenirs” from Volkov fly, plus an ace from the hosts’ central blocker, 7:16. Instead of Papazov on the court, Rudnev, the game is leveling out a bit: scores our diagonal, Serov and Slobodyanyuk are accurate, Shevlyakov is again marked with a block, this time to Shcherbinin. But too much is missing, besides, Kazan residents at least keep eating.

In the end on another ace from Romanovsky (14:23) Slobodyanyuk is marked with serves through and through (16:23) and Fedorov (18:24), but their mistakes in this element bring the set to its logical conclusion, 18:25.

In the third set, Kletz's serve makes the difference.. Kirill scores an ace in the opening (1:3) and adds, having passed the circle, 7:11. Serov looks like a bright spot in our reception, but he also fails to receive a short serve from Rukavishnikov, 11:16. Shortly before this, Evgeniy played a cool cross with Volkov, he scored first. Rudnev responds to powerful attacks by Klets with effective discounts, but in the fourth zone Enin outplays Slobodyanyuk, 14:20. Rukavishnikov, without disguise, throws with both hands - passes, 17:23. And again, the residents of Surgut started up just before the curtain: Serov gets a break, Rudnev makes an ace, 20:23. But Yenin calms the situation through not ideal, but effective pipe, and Fedorov hits out on match point, 20:25. Separately worth noting, that in the third game the hosts 10 times they made a mistake on serve, we “returned” five errors to them - but the effectiveness of that, what arrived, was clearly in favor of Kazan.

Gazprom-Yugra lacked strength. Kletz interrupted us with his might, Volkov - skill, Yenin looked great, Romanovsky was a nightmare with his serve. Serov has made a good bid for the future, Kirillov fought, that could, made by Shevlyakov, I have no complaints about Rodichev - he was spinning on difficult balls. Sprinkling ashes on your head makes no sense, after all, Gazprom-Yugra plays for Surgut practically for free, for the city team - amateurs from a hobby group. And we play with real pros. It's not just different weight categories, this is a fundamentally different attitude, everything else follows from here.

Zenit-Kazan (Kazan) 3: 0 Gazprom-Yugra (KhMAO-Yugra)

match stats

Details

Date	Time	Championship
06.11.2024	18:00	CR 2024-2025

Results

Team	1	2	3	GENERAL.
Zenit-Kazan (Kazan)	25	25	25	3
Gazprom-Yugra (KhMAO-Yugra)	18	18	20	0

Venue

g. Kazan
Volleyball Center \"St. Petersburg", 1, Midhata Bulatova Street, 33-th Military town, Farm-2, Privolzhsky district, Kazan, Kazan city district, Tatarstan, Volga Federal District, 420011, Russia

Zenit-Kazan (Kazan)

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