Dynamo defeated Zenit in the quarterfinals of the volleyball championship

The quarter-final stage of the play-off of the Russian Volleyball Championship was decorated with the third, decisive match in the most status pair of the stage, pitting two giants against each other. St. Petersburg’s Zenit, which has experienced serious personnel problems this season, has forced one of the undisputed favorites, Dynamo Moscow, to strain to the fullest. It won a ticket to the semi-finals only in a tiebreaker, beating its opponents 3:2 (25:13, 25:21, 19:25, 18:25, 15:8).

“Dynamo” and “Zenith” crossed paths with each other many times at all important stages of all important tournaments. A year ago, for example, we met in the semi-finals of the championship. But the result of that series, in which Dynamo beat their opponents dry with a score of 3:0, was perceived somewhat differently than the result of the current series, which took place one round earlier. Back then, the trend was to talk about the evil Zenit karma, about the fact that, unlike the Moscow club, which has demonstrated amazing efficiency in the current decade (championship gold in 2021 and 2022, then reaching the finals), the St. Petersburg club in this sense has acquired a reputation quite specific. Since its inception seven years ago, the volleyball Zenit has approximately the same ambitions as the football Zenit, and they are supported by human and financial resources, but their implementation is not at all successful. A decent-sized collection of silver medals and second places has been collected, but there is no way to get to the gold, although it seems that it is nearby, literally asking to be picked up.

This season, however, Zenit, whatever one may say, did not look like a team so prosperous that it was obliged to fight for the title. There are too many losses among players, not just significant ones, but those on which everything rests. American Matthew Anderson decided to leave Russia; injuries knocked out Yegor Klyuka and Viktor Poletaev. Holes appeared in the final game and in the diagonal position, and it was not possible to patch them perfectly tightly.

So the St. Petersburgers, apparently, had to say goodbye to the championship without tears for the first time. Especially after such and such a point. For today’s Zenit, an achievement was already the fact that at least he did not allow the Dynamo team to go further without straining, he gave them a brutal beating. In the match that opened the series in Moscow, Zenit nearly won the opening set, giving it away on a marathon “balance.” Petersburg generally won, fighting desperately and gaining the upper hand in the hard-fought tiebreaker.

The third match was no exception. On the contrary, from the point of view of drama and plot twist, it perhaps surpassed the previous ones. In the first set, however, “Dynamo” didn’t have any difficulties, and the feeling that he didn’t even need to break down to tear Zenit apart was quite enough class, there was nowhere to escape. But in the second one problems appeared. And at the end of the next game, Dynamo suddenly discovered that they were half a dozen goals behind, and the opponent was no worse. And the home team’s coach, Konstantin Bryansky, finally got nervous and received a yellow card.

It only got worse from there. In the fourth set, Zenit was already too clearly superior to Dynamo. So obvious that Bryansky, in search of a way to get out, needed measures not cosmetic like time-outs, but radical, for example, seating his famous diagonal Tsvetan Sokolov on the bench. But it was still impossible to stop the accelerating Zenit. At least slow down.

In general, the match went to a tiebreaker. And then Dynamo finally pulled themselves together and, gritting their teeth, returned the game approximately to the direction in which it proceeded at the beginning of the match. The heroic Zenit could not resist.

Dynamo became the second semi-finalist of the Russian championship after its undisputed favorite – the current title holder and winner of the regular championship club Zenit-Kazan. He was the only one who managed to pass the quarterfinal stage without failures, defeating Krasnoyarsk Yenisei in two matches in a row. In all other series it came to the third, decisive meetings. The last two spots in the semi-finals will be played out on Saturday. In these matches, Lokomotiv Novosibirsk will host Fakel Novy Urengoy, and Belogorye Belgorod will host Kuzbass Kemerovo.

Alexey Dospehov