Kazan “Zenit” came out on top in the volleyball super league
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In the central match of the 18th round of the Russian Championship, Zenit Kazan defeated Lokomotiv with a score of 3:1 in sets. This result led to a change in leadership. Now the first place is occupied by the Kazan team, and the Novosibirsk team has dropped to second place.
Taking into account how the regular season is shaping up, the current match between Zenit and Lokomotiv was decisive in the fight for first place and, accordingly, the highest seeding number before the play-offs. Before this confrontation, Novosibirsk had one victory and three points more than Kazan. Moreover, Zenit has not lost since the fifth round, when it lost to Belogorye on the road, and Lokomotiv has not lost since the fourth, when it was defeated by Dynamo in Moscow.
By the way, the railway workers won the last personal meeting within the Super League, which took place in the second round, at home by almost one wicket. True, the Kazan club then defeated them in the semi-finals of the Russian Cup, and also thanks to a convincing victory on their home ground. Now, perhaps the key factor for the rivalry between these teams, the home field factor was again on the side of Zenit.
The hosts immediately grabbed Lokomotiv and forced its head coach Plamen Konstantinov to take an early time-out. This did not help the guests, and they fell behind by six points, but gradually improved the game. Bulgarian player Denis Karyagin, who filled the second legionary vacancy, made a fairly successful debut in their lineup. In general, Novosibirsk residents were waiting for the star Serbian diagonal Alexander Atanasevich, but his transfer failed. 21-year-old Karyagin, of course, has not yet made such a name for himself in world volleyball, however, he showed that he can be useful to railway workers.
In the first game, Lokomotiv either caught up or let Zenit go again and still brought the matter to a stubborn finish. One of the most notable players in the ranks of Kazan, Sam Deru, hit a block on a double set point and made his mentor Alexei Verbov nervous, but in the next play the Belgian corrected himself and won the game – 25:23.
In the second segment of the match, on Deru’s serve, the hosts pulled ahead by three points, and again Konstantinov’s charges played catch-up. And even though Karyagin was a little behind them, who certainly had a very difficult match for his debut, another Bulgarian legionnaire, Martin Atanasov, showed his best. Having reduced the gap from four points to a minimum, the guests again went to minus four, but did not give up and organized another chase. In the end, everything was decided in an equal ending, in which the Kazan players acted more reliably, and Maxim Mikhailov scored the winning goal with a deceptive kick – 25:23.
In the third set, after Mikhailov’s ace, Zenit led 8:6, but soon Lokomotiv was in the lead – 13:10. Now Verbov’s team had to take a long time to recoup, and they even took the lead after a blunder on a reception by Karyagin, who was also good in attack – 23:22. But it was the railway workers who were the first to earn a set point. However, then the Kazan team missed two match points, but their opponent, primarily through the efforts of Dmitry Lyzik, took this game on the third attempt – 29:27. First, Karyagin put down the passing ball after a serve from the Lokomotiv blocker, and then he scored an ace.
In order to top the standings, Zenit needed to win the fourth set. And he seemed more than confidently moving towards a three-point victory. When his advantage reached six points – 20:14, it seemed that it was simply impossible to return the intrigue in such a situation. But Lyzik unsettled the hosts with his brilliant serves, and they came to their senses only when the score had already become a draw. As a result, the outcome turned out to be completely unpredictable. Both of them could have completed the game in their favor, but Kazan still won after the Deru pipe – 28:26. Thus, Zenit scored 46 points and was ahead of Lokomotiv in additional indicators.
18th round
“Neftyanik” (Orenburg) — “Dynamo” Leningrad region) 3:1. “Enisey” (Krasnoyarsk)—ASK (Nizhny Novgorod) 3:0. “Ugra-Samotlor” (Nizhnevartovsk) — “Belogorye” (Belgorod) 1:3. Shakhtar (Soligorsk) — Dynamo (Moscow) 0:3. “Gazprom-Yugra” (Surgut) – “Fakel” (Novy Urengoy) 1:3. “Zenit-Kazan” — “Lokomotiv” (Novosibirsk) 3:1.
Tournament table
V P S O
1. Zenit-Kazan 18 16 2 49:13 46
2. Lokomotiv 18 16 2 49:14 46
3. Dynamo (M) 18 14 4 46:17 44
4. Dynamo (LO) 18 12 6 39:29 33
4. “Belogorye” 18 11 7 43:26 36
6. “Kuzbass” 17 10 7 43:32 32
7. Zenit (St. Petersburg) 17 10 7 37:28 29
8. “Yenisei” 18 9 9 35:35 27
9. Shakhtar 18 9 9 33:35 26
10. “Torch” 18 9 9 31:39 24
11. “Ural” 17 7 10 30:37 20
12. “Nova” 17 6 11 22:40 17
13. “Neftyanik” 18 4 14 22:44 16
14. Gazprom-Yugra 18 4 14 21:45 14
15. ASK 18 3 15 16:47 9
16. “Ugra-Samotlor” 18 2 16 14:49 7
For a win in three or four sets, 3 points are awarded, for a win in five sets – 2, for a loss in five sets – 1.
“Dynamo” (LO) is located above “Belogorye”, since places in the table “are determined by the largest number of victories won by teams in all games”, the number of points is an additional indicator.
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