Belogorie Belgorod returns to the throne of Russian volleyball after 7 years. In 2005, Belgorod succeeded in the Cup of Russia, this time Belogorie repeated the achievement and won the national cup beating Zenit Kazan in the great final in front of its own fans. Dimitry Muserskiy was chosen the most valuable player of the tournament.
Belgorie Belgorod – Zenit Kazan 3 – 1 (25-21, 25-23, 20-25, 25-23)
Belogorie: Makarov 4, Khtey 8, Grozer 22, Kuznetsov 3, Muserskiy 15, Ilinykh 17, Ermakov (L) and Andreev (L), Zhigalov 0, Kosarev 1, Fomenko 3, Kampa 0, Khanipov 0, Tetyukhin 0
Zenit: Vermiglio 0, Anderson 3, Apalikov 9, Mikhaylov 23, Sivozhelez 13, Abrosimov 6, Babichev (L) and Obmochaev (L), Kolodinskiy 0, Berezhko 6, Demakov 0
Zenit Kazan was overcome by Belogrie Belgorod in the final match of the Cup of Russia and the defeat was totally deserved. Belgorod presented much more balanced play with ‘three Musketeers’ – Grozer, Ilinykh and Muserskiy. In particular, the third one was a real ‘soul’ of the team like D’Artagnan in the famous movie about three French musketeers. The 218 centimeters tall player was striking into Zenit by his powerful and effective attacks adding regular serves and successful blocks. Gorgy Grozer finally showed what it was expected before the season and what he presented playing in Poland. Today, the German opposite was a real scoring machine with 22 point on his game account resolving key actions. The third Belgorod leader was Dimitry Ilinykh, who scored 17 points. From Zenit’s side, Maxim Mikhaylov fulfilled his job properly (23 points). In some moments, you could get an impression that only that opposite was remaining Zenit in play but it was not enough to beat Belogorie. Matthew Anderson disappointed the most being substitute already in the second set. Belgorod played more comprehensive volleyball and can celebrate the victory.
In a duel of the third place, Dinamo Moscow won Lokomotiv Novosibirsk 3 – 1.
Individual awards:
MVP – Dimitry Muserskiy
Best Spiker – Maxim Mikhaylov
Best Setter – Sergey Grankin
Best Blocker – Nikolay Apalikov
Best Server – Dimitry Muserskiy
Best Libero – Artem Ermakov
