Alekno we tie

"Zenith" (St. Petersburg): Tisevich - Babkevich, Yakovlev – Kosmin, Gossip - Yant, Grebennikov

"Gazprom-Ugra" (Surgut): Kirillov – Papazov, Kurbatov – Shevlyakov, Rodychev is Masko, Nagaec

On his birthday, Vladimir Alekno did not intend to give gifts to his opponent and fielded the strongest squad. In the first set, the hosts immediately revealed their main weapon in the form of Vladislav Babkevich, whose ace formed Zenit's first lead, 3:6. The residents of Surgut, through the efforts of Masko and Papazov, reduced the distance to 7:8, but the effective actions of the St. Petersburg team on the block and Klyuki’s emergency ace from the rope again created a gap, 11:16.

Torch timeout - and Dineikin confidently withdraws in the fourth zone 14:18 Gazprom-Yugra gave away five draws in a row, starting with the failure of Rudnev, who came out with a special mission on duty, and ending with another ace from the rope, this time performed by Tisevich. The reception of Surgut residents was chronically limping, Kirillov’s passes were not stable against this background, and Zenit did not forgive anything, 16:25 – the last touch was left to Kosmin.

In the second game the game on the net made the difference. Babkevich continued to pound from the third floor, Klyuka entered the mode of himself from three years ago, plus the master's block grew like a wall. That was enough: even when the reception was knocked out, Zenit finished off the allotted balls, the Surgut residents could not respond in kind with similar quality of finishing. At 5:11 Alekno made a double substitution with Butko and Poletaev coming on, Ivanov appeared instead of Kirillov, and soon Zenit returned Babkevich and Tisevich to the clearing, showing, that he's not going to loosen his grip. Masko scored with an ace off the rope - the third of the match from both sides, 12:18. In the end, the hosts pressed and put the squeeze on, 14:25.

In the third set Ivanov remained on the court, Beskrovny came on instead of Kurbatov. Ivanov, despite the difference in height, does not allow Klyuka to line up, 5:3. Klyuka got angry, scored twice, Babkevich decided to finish the game, 5:6. But this time the Surgut residents did not let the hosts escape, grabbed with a death grip. Masko scores from two, but Rodichev is especially good. He doesn’t give Zenit any air with his attacks, plus he begins to pick up everything in defense. Kirillov and Rudnev come out and we are already on fire 14:17. After a time-out, Rudnev is withdrawn, Babkevich makes his first mistake, attack in out, then Vladislav's attack is softened by a block, and Rodichev fights back from the block, 17:17.

Alekno's first timeout in the match has no effect: Rodichev blocks Yant (18:17) and Dineykin changes him. On balance (19:19) Poletaev comes out to serve and we don’t beat the block twice, 19:21. But again we find the strength to even the score: Rodichev is good again on the back line, and Masko gets it back on his fingers, 22:22. Masko’s mini-benefit in working with blockers’ hands brings us a set point, 24:23. Babkevich is filming, but Papazov doesn’t decide on a high ball, 24:25. On the second match point of the hosts, Masko places the ball from the second zone into the line, but Grebennikov is magnificent there and Dineykin takes his chance, 25:27.

Game of completely different resources, in which, due to our character, we managed to force a fight only in the third set. When and if you are not perfect, “Zenith” is capable of simply crushing with physical power, which was done. Happy birthday to Vladimir Alekno, today he was left without a tie.

Zenith (St. Petersburg) 3: 0 Gazprom-Yugra (KhMAO-Yugra)

match stats

Details

Date	Time	Championship
04.12.2024	21:30	CR 2024-2025

Results

Team	1	2	3	GENERAL.
Zenith (St. Petersburg)	25	25	27	3
Gazprom-Yugra (KhMAO-Yugra)	16	14	25	0

Venue

g. St. Petersburg

Zenith (St. Petersburg)

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