Gazprom-Yugra became the winner of the group
Group stage of the preliminary part of the Russian Cup 2026 The year ended for Gazprom-Ugra with first place based on the results of two rounds played. In Serpukhov we beat Nova, 3:1, and then, together with MSTU and Fakel, they spun a carousel of five-set meetings, where everyone won a victory. Defeating MSTU, Gazprom-Yugra secured first place even before the match with Fakel, which allowed us to conduct a number of interesting and useful experiments in the latest game.
At first, we have released a completely fresh pair of players, Georgy Serov and Andrey Bobrov. And when they didn't go well in the first set (I note, which is partly due to the quality of the transmissions), the coaching staff first shifted the emphasis of attacks to the center of the net, giving carte blanche to the setters to throw balls to Alexander Tkachev and Anton Andreev from any more or less suitable position. It worked – “Torch”, played with the strongest squad and to win, obviously did not expect this and for a long time could not do anything about our activity in the center.
Then Gazprom-Yugra switched to a game scheme without a diagonal, with two binders, good and Maxim Kirillov, and Slavi Kostadinov are capable of playing in attack with high efficiency. what, properly, and proved - Kirillov especially tried. This tool also put the opponent in a certain dead end, which allowed us to make a mirror comeback after losing the first set in the second (25:15) and confidently take the third (25:17).
In the fourth game we had a chance to finish the match, score in the end (22:21) allowed me to do this. But it was at this moment that Kirillov’s attacks stopped paying dividends, and attempts to break through the center began to fail. "Fakel" adapted, and Vasily Kapranov and especially Nikita Morozov caught the courage. Our fourth zone, represented by Georgy Serov, continued to produce efficiency indicators close to zero, what, by the way, The same cannot be said about Andrei Bobrov - he also worked on the back line, and on the grid he was persistent and helpful. But a little was not enough, and the trend of ending the fourth set spread to the fifth: Morozov broke up, Sidorenko supported him with a series of knockout serves, and we simply don’t have time left for another perestroika and a worthy response.
Nevertheless, Given that, that the task of defeating nosebleeds was not, the game came out with a plus sign for us. If only because, that we “pulled” the opponent in different situations, looked at your reserves: because we are very soon, already 11 October, play with the same “Fakel” the first play-off semi-final match of the preliminary “pool” of the Russian Cup.
Scheme of the tournament, as we already wrote, very intricate. In fact, two additional matches with Fakel before the start of the championship will be the final opportunity for Gazprom-Yugra to polish out the rough edges - the result as such is not of fundamental importance. But, of course, we will fight for victory, like in any match. G, of course, it will be interesting - for “Fakel”, quite possible, a pair of foreign players will make their debut: newly crowned world champion Yuri Romano and setter for the US team, partner, namesake and fellow countryman of Mikey Christenson Mikey Maa.
