Krasnodar teams gave battle to the favorites

It has been a positive week for the gaming teams of the Krasnodar Territory. Only the national champions managed to beat the Kuban teams. At the same time, in both cases, the matches turned out to be exciting. In addition, the best sportsman of the region according to the fans was determined.

“Game” is smaller

Dynamo volleyball players continued their winning streak. True, this time they came across a smaller “game”: the previously beaten “Proton” and “Leningradka” are in the top five. And Zarechye-Odintsovo, in the past one of the leading clubs in the country, is now only eleventh.

The match stretched to four games – 3:1 (25:15, 25:20, 22:25, 25:13). In the starting set, a stubborn struggle lasted until the score was 11:11, then the hosts were able to make a breakthrough and take the lead – 21:13, after which they easily brought the matter to victory.

The second set was a little more difficult for Dynamo, although the beginning of the game was more successful – 5:1. However, the hostesses were constantly leading, outperforming the opponent by 4-5 points, and kept the lead until the end of the game.

The defeat of the leading team in the third set with a score of 2: 0 happens very often. A long time ago, the legendary coach Vladimir Alekno called this phenomenon “the disease of all volleyball”. The winning side relaxes – the losers mobilize. With an equal game, the guests had a more reliable ending.

In the fourth game, Dynamo established its own rules, showing the chance of losing. Volleyball players from the Moscow region often made mistakes in attack, the Krasnodar players quickly increased their advantage to 8: 2, and with a series of innings by Valeria Shevchuk, they achieved an overwhelming advantage – 25: 13. Yulia Podskalnaya became the most productive at Dynamo. The team captain has eighteen points. Krasnodar players scored the same number of points with the help of a block.

Dynamo equaled Minskka in terms of points and victories. Krasnodar are ninth, but they need to get into the top eight to continue fighting in the playoffs. Ahead of the “white-and-blues” is the next match on the road against “Dynamo-Metar” from Chelyabinsk.

Shake for “Rostov”

Handball players “Kuban” had two matches. First, the “yellow-greens” played in Izhevsk against the local “University”. Krasnodar players took their souls there, scoring more than forty goals. By the way, for the fifth time Denis Saifulin’s wards overcame this mark in the season. A confident victory – 42 : 23, and Anastasia Shavman scored eleven goals.

Next was a much more difficult game against the reigning champion. At the moment, Rostov-Don is fighting for second place with Astrakhanochka.

Before the game, the famous handball player of the past, Svetlana Smirnova, who celebrated her birthday on January 16, was honored. She was inducted into the Club Hall of Fame. She is the best scorer of “Kuban” in history. The right welterweight has scored more than three thousand goals. In 2001, Svetlana Smirnova became the world champion as part of the Russian national team.

Often Rostov-Don had no problems in games with Kuban, but not in this case. The first half gave hope to the fans of “Kuban”: his team from Krasnodar triumphantly won.

In the middle of the half, they began to go into the lead. Victoria Zhilinskaite put the ball into the target with a powerful throw. Krasnodar fought back in defense, after which Ekaterina Levchina scored a beautiful goal with a twist – 8: 6. She attacked without a miss in this match, having realized all four attempts.

A timeout followed by Eduard Koksharov. Krasnodar specialist, Olympic champion of Sydney this season led Rostov-Don. But the gap continued to grow. Kuban easily completed fast breaks after losing guests. Goalkeepers “Rostov” for twenty minutes did not reflect a single throw.

Valeria Sobkalo managed to spin the ball into the goal from the sharpest angle, which caused the second break of Rostov. And here, Yana Savinova succeeded in a completely mocking “air” – 15: 9.

In the final ten minutes of the first half, the goalkeepers turned on. Victoria Kalinina neutralized the one-on-one Sobkalo, the goalkeeper from Krasnodar Elena Nikolaeva also scored saves. Score 18 : 14 in favor of the hosts after thirty minutes of play.

In the second half, the Rostovites switched to a more active defense – “5 + 1”, in which “Kuban” began to bog down. Bad luck was added: to two hits in a row in the bar, a third was soon added. The attack stalled, and the gap was rapidly shrinking. Many rebounds were allowed by the defense of Kuban after Nikolaeva’s saves. Score 24: 23 – Rostov took the lead in the 48th minute. Gap balanced in the area of ​​two balls. But in the last minutes, the guests strengthened him – 31 : 26.

— Defense “6 + 0” did not cope with its task in the first half. I had to change it in the second half,” said Eduard Koksharov. – We broke the Kuban attack, the opposing team got jitters, which allowed us to get closer in the score, and then come out ahead.

— The first half was positive, the team was on the move. Stopped in the second. The opponent changed in defense, we told the girls what to do. But this did not work out on the site. We also had a plan “B”, but because of the constant removals, it did not come to it, – Denis Saifulin shared his impressions of the game.

On January 18, Kuban will play at home with Stavropol.

First Prize for Basketball

Lokomotiv-Kuban became a participant of the “Match of the Week” in the VTB United League. Krasnodar basketball players went to visit the current champion of the tournament – Zenit from St. Petersburg.

Both teams are performing worse than last year. The Petersburgers are in third place, Loko, which finished fourth last tournament, is still in sixth place.

The teams played an entertaining match in Krasnodar. Then Zenit achieved a huge advantage of 21 points, but almost lost it in the final quarter.

The teams almost repeated the plot move. Everything turned out even more dramatic.

The first match was played by Loko’s newcomer Devon Akun-Purcell. And he already made me remember his complicated name. The player from Trinidad and Tobago became the top scorer for Loko with twenty points.

The beginning was difficult. Krasnodar got under the opponent’s block shots, couldn’t defend themselves, and Zenit took the lead significantly after the first quarter – 22:12.

In the third period, the hosts broke away by seventeen points. Josh Gray in the aisle set the score before the final quarter – 63 : 52. Krasnodar managed to organize a chase. Akun-Purcell and Zakhar Vedischev hit from afar. After a tricky pass from Vladislav Yemchenko, Chris Horton scored from behind and with a half-hook. The young Yegor Sychkov also distinguished himself. Zenith was not reliable at decisive moments. Lubricated free throws gave Loko a chance. With the score 73:71 in favor of the opponent, Jaylen Burford attacked from a distance. One of the leaders of Krasnodar had no shots throughout the match. One last try could have made him a hero. Alas, the ball touched the bow, but flew out of the ring. Zenit won – 73:71 (22:12, 20:25, 21:15, 10:19).

– We had a chance to win in the end, but the experience and quality of the players of the St. Petersburg team affected. As a result, it turned out to be an interesting match, and even though Loko lost, the way we played, especially towards the end of the match, allows us to look to the future with optimism,” said the head coach of the guests Alexander Sekulich.

Krasnodar played the second match against a more modest opponent. “Minsk” closes the standings of the VTB United League. The Belarusian team won only one victory.

The first fifteen minutes were not the easiest for Loko. American central guests Zach Smith powerfully hammered balls from above. In the first quarter, he managed to successfully hang on the Krasnodar ring four times. Akun-Purcell showed that he became the team’s best scorer in the previous match for a reason. Once again, the newcomer turned out to be Loko’s most productive player: seventeen points.

Chris Horton scored in many statistical components. Five block shots are noteworthy – this is a phenomenal indicator. During the match, the giant stopped the ball flying into the ring five times. He made two in a row at the end of the second quarter, which helped to organize the breakthrough of Krasnodar. The teams went on a long break with a significant advantage of Lokomotiv – 35: 27. The hosts made a “control shot” in the third quarter, winning it with a score of 23: 11. In the final period, Loko gave more playing time to the players from the bench. The result is 74:56 (18:14, 17:13, 23:11, 14:18).

On January 20, Krasnodar will play the final match of the first stage – away against Astana.

An important event took place before the match. The winner of the annual award “Athlete of Kuban” was named. Fans have chosen Loko forward Andriy Martyuk with the help of Internet voting. The traditional award “Shield of the Champion” was presented by the President of PBC “Lokomotiv-Kuban” and the Regional Basketball Federation Andrey Vedishchev together with the Chairman of the Krasnodar Regional Branch of the Federation of Sports Journalists of Russia Maxim Osadnik.

Martyuk and wrestler Alexander Golovin agreed in the final vote. Forward Loko received 52.2 percent of the vote. For the first time ever, a representative of basketball won the annual vote.