Let's try to break the trend
Games against Nova are not easy for us. Last season we lost twice in the regular season, then they beat Volzhan twice in the “pulka” for 9-12 seats, but there is a passion there, so to speak, was no longer the same. A year earlier, despite the fact that Nova finished penultimate in the regular season after returning to the Super League from the top league "A", she was also twice stronger than the Surgutians.
What is the phenomenon here and does it exist?? I think, it's all about Nova itself, a team with “floating” self-esteem and an uncertain informal status. Volzhans claim the title of middle peasant, have a combat-ready composition with a set of experienced performers of a fairly high class, but they prove their combat effectiveness, primarily, against teams from the bottom of the standings.
It's hard for us to play against such opponents, after all, they are tuned in in a special way to games, where they can take points. And today we are just on the short list of teams, which they can beat. For my part, we also consider the opponent as potentially outplayed - and on these head-to-head courses we concede, mainly, in the mood. At least, it was like that before.
So this season Nova has two victories over MSTU and ASK, the remaining seven games were lost. It is in the upcoming matches with Gazprom-Ugra, "Neftyanik", “The Torch of Yamal” and “Dynamo-LO” should reveal the true position of the Volga residents in the table of ranks and the upcoming match is extremely important for them. Just like for us.
Having released Vitaly Papazov, who played for the Volga team last season, to Surgut, "Nova" was strengthened by a couple of graduates and old-timers of the Ufa "Ural" – diagonal Evgeniy Rybakov and finishing player Egor Feoktistov. The latter is currently out of action due to injury., Nikita Aksyutin, who also played for Gazprom-Yugra, is called to replace him. Two more finishers – the most experienced Maxim Shpilev and Andrey Titich. At all, experience is the first thing that comes to mind, when you consider the composition of our opponent. In the center is the unfading Mikhail Shcherbakov and Andrey Ananiev, who has played in many places., Serbian national team setter Nikola Jovovic passes, previously performed in Ufa and Sosnovy Bor. Rybakov’s competition in the diagonal is Denis Litvinov, the evil genius of the Surgut people - it’s always difficult for us to play against him. The libero also has a very familiar name to Surgut fans - Evgeniy Zastupov.
Well, for the sake of completeness: Volzhan head coach Oleg Sogrin was once one of the leaders of Gazprom-Yugra in the center of the grid.
I'm very tense, heavy, tough match, where we need all the leadership qualities of Papazov and Rodichev, cool head Kirillov, reliability and cohesion of the entire team. The biggest mystery is the position of the second finisher (taking into account Georgy Serov, who played well in Kazan) and the choice of central players - all four can equally be on the court. Anyway, whoever ends up in combat, no matter who enters the court as part of a rotation or to strengthen individual elements - everyone needs to maintain maximum concentration and try to break the unpleasant trend of the last two years. We can beat Nova, but only if we show mature, psychologically stable volleyball.
