Dynamo won a strong-willed victory over a strong opponent

The week turned out to be victorious for Krasnodar players. Volleyball “Dynamo” was able to beat the formidable “Locomotive”. In handball, Kuban no less sensationally cracked down on Lada, while SKIF was more modestly content with a victory over an outsider.

Victoria and the fall down

Dynamo volleyball players created a real sensation. In the course of the tournament, the Krasnodar side repeatedly finished the match not according to the forecast: a couple of times they defeated the favorites, but even more often they lost to outsiders. Now the most “fat” of the favorites fell into the clutches of, perhaps, the most unpredictable Super League team. The current champion of the country, Lokomotiv from Kaliningrad, is second this season, but capitulated in Krasnodar. The result of the match is 3:2 (16:25, 15:25, 25:20, 25:20, 15:11).

At first, everything went smoothly for Loko. The two opening games of the champion were taken away easily. In the first, however, equality began, but with a score of 14: 14, the guests won seven draws in a row, achieving a decisive advantage. Tatyana Kadochkina was a regular scorer, who scored 32 points in the end!

The hostesses were helped by rearrangements, the block began to work. And the score on the parties equalized. The tie-break started with a score of 6:0 in favor of Dynamo, and then the hosts kept the advantage. During the match, fifteen points were won on the block, five of them in the decisive set. Nineteen points in the asset of Valeria Shevchuk.

– The champion won the first two games using his power in attack. It was difficult for us in such a game, but we managed to change it because we managed to complicate our serve by stopping several opponent attacks on the block,” Dynamo head coach Pavel Zabuslaev shared his recipe for success. “It helped me get back into the game, to believe in myself. Substitutions helped. We have all attackers of equal class, anyone can help if they are in good shape. Well, the factor of our hall also affected.

However, a two-point victory, albeit over the champion, moved Krasnodar to ninth position. Krasnoyarsk “Yenisei” climbed to the eighth line, outplaying “Minchanka” in four games.

Ahead of the “white-blue” away game with “Uralochka”, according to the standings, the weakest opponent. But in Krasnodar, Dynamo lost outright. And then even more difficult calendar. You need to beat even more leaders to get into the playoffs.

Two seconds and twenty three years

Handball players of “Kuban” also alternate successes with failures. In the previous round Krasnodar lost to Zvezda. Next was the game with Lada. The Yellow-Greens have not defeated this team in official matches in Togliatti for twenty-three years! In this off-season, Krasnodar won the preparatory tournament. We officially got close to success quite recently – in January 2023, when we played a draw – 26 : 26. And then it thundered!

In the last match with Zvezda, Diana Golub’s streak of 138 matches for Kuban with goals scored was interrupted. It lasted from November 2018, as calculated by the press service of the club.

But Krasnodar have revived. “Kuban” was in the lead almost the entire match. In the second half, the gap reached four goals. Nevertheless, everything was as “thin” as possible. “Lada” by force of will was able to get Krasnodar. Valeria Kirdyasheva hit the target five seconds before the end – 30:30. There was little doubt that it was a draw. But Krasnodar found a winning option. The hostesses were in the minority, and for the last attack they changed the goalkeeper for a field player. There was a price to pay for such a tactical move! The goalkeeper of “Kuban” Elena Nikolaeva quickly sent the ball to the center, and the team captain – a native of Togliatti Yana Savinova – two seconds before the end from the center of the site hit an easy target – an empty net. A rare denouement from the world of handball. The score is 31:30! And Diana Golub became the top scorer of the Krasnodar team, scoring five goals.

– The match is not easy, valid. I thank the girls who were able to snatch the victory,” said Denis Saifulin, head coach of Kuban, at a press conference. – I also thank our fans in the stands. After the defeat from Zvezda, we wanted to rise psychologically, and we succeeded.

There are many reasons for the defeat. Congratulations to Kuban, they were stronger,” admitted Ekaterina Marennikova, head coach of Lada. “For our part, I can’t call it a game. I don’t know what is happening with those players who were supposed to go out and show the result. Apparently, they decided that they had a non-flying day, maybe they had already played enough … I want to say a lot, but not everything can be said. I’ll tell it all to the team…

“Kuban” will have two matches with “Astrakhanochka”. The first of them will be held at the home site on the ninth of March.

On pause – in a good mood

SKIF met with the penultimate team of the men’s handball superleague – Akbuzat Ufa. In the first round, Krasnodar won on the road with a difference of one goal with great difficulty – 31:30. At home it turned out easier. The beginning of the meeting was chic – 4 : 1 – Krasnodar took the lead after five minutes. However, the game was equal. The hosts in this segment played in the minority and were even able to score with six of them. SKIF’s goalkeeper Alexei Krikunov saved two penalties. The guests had trouble with the execution of seven-meter free throws the entire match. Only two times distinguished themselves out of seven attempts.

Then Krasnodar stalled, and Ufa took the lead – 6 : 5. For a long time the teams were level. Krasnodar came off, but the guests caught up. The hosts had a better ending – 16:14.

The second half gave the audience a more relaxed state. Krasnodar took the game under control. They didn’t run far in the score, but the advantage of three or four goals was not allowed to melt away, scoring a lot of easy goals in breakaways. Tran Xuan Viet scored eight goals in the match, Ruslan Dashko scored six more. The score 33 : 26 is an important victory after two away defeats.

— In the first half, we didn’t succeed in defense, we couldn’t cope with the opponent’s back line, — Dmitry Karlov, head coach of SKIF, summed up the match. – Before the break, we stabilized the defense, in the second half, too, and scored in the attack. Krikunov pulled at the right moments. After the defeat in Omsk, there was, of course, excitement. But already in the game against Viktor, the guys wanted to prove that it was an accident. In training, I felt the charge to win.

SKIF ranks sixth in the standings, the team has fifteen points after seventeen matches. Ahead, however, is again a long pause in the calendar: the next match is only on March 20 away against Dynamo Astrakhan.