Zenit had a successful week, team of V. Alekno won the Russian Cup. But later in Yaroslavl they did not find enough power to beat Mikhailov and teammates.
This round main event is the first loss by Kazan’s team. Zenit was doing great in all three competitions they participate. But they are just human and the pressure to have the streak going became too much to handle and most players got just too tired. Maybe it is good for Zenit to drop a game or two now. That would take off the phycological weight of the team and would let Kazan going again. Another surprise was the loss of the second Superleague team Faken in Surgut. This was the last round this year. Teams would take a well-deserved break till 01/09/2010.
Yaroslavich (Yaroslavl) – Zenit (Kazan) 3:1 (25:21, 25:16, 15:25, 30:28)
First loss for Zenit! Zenit’s record matching 10 games winning streak came to the end. Kazan’s team had a marvelous run since the start of 2010 Superleague, won Russian Cup Finals in Kaliningrad last Sunday and is doing well in CEV CL. But the fatigue finally caught up with them. The team got a day off before the game in Yaroslavl. Several players including Ball, Garkushenko, Cheremisin, Babichev and Bogomolov used the free time to visit the Kazan women volleyball team’s game against Omichka. On the next day Zenit flew to Yaroslavl.
Alekno started his best lineup with Verbov as the only exception. But he had to replace Tetyuking, Russian Cup MVP, who got covered by Yaroslavich blocks, with Kulikovsky. The substitute played well enough earning 14 points with 61% effectiveness. The next to leave was Stanley, who had a miserable night with only 13% effectiveness and just one point, and Panteleimonenko. Stanley was replaced by Cheremisin, and Zakharov came in instead of Panteleimonenko. Both tried their best, but their effort was not enough to carry Kazan through.
Yaroslavich did not played well previous round losing the matchup with Izumrud and was desperate to earn some points. Mikhailov scored for the first time in his career 30 plus points in back-to-back games with 62% effectiveness. Titic offered some support to his team’s leader. Khamutskih had a great game too. Zenit committed unusual many serve errors: 25 to Yaroslavich’s 15.
Athletes have their superstition. Zenit’s three leaders did not shave until the Russian Cup finals and that lucky charm worked just fine. After that a journalist asked Tetyukhin is he going to shave. He responded that he might keep the beard for have the winning streak going. Not any more. It is time to pick-up the razors!
The loss did not affect Zenit’s position: they are still the single leaders of the Superleague. But the loss did cut the lead down to just 2 points. Now there two teams, Iskra and Novosibirsk are within the striking distance from them. Yaroslavich moved up on step after the win.
Yaroslavich: Mikhailov – 30, Titich – 11.
Zenit: Cheremisin – 16, Kulikovsky – 14, Apalikov – 10.
Iskra (Odintsovo) – Tyumen (Tyumen) 3:1 (25:20, 20:25, 25:17, 25:20)
Odintsovo played without their leaders Kalinin and Kuleshov. But that did not prevented Iskra from defeating Tyumen. Kruglov and Spiridonov stepped up their performance, Schops and Astashenkov added their usual contribution. That was more than enough to carry Odintsovo to the win and recapture the second place in the Superleague lost after the setback in Kazan. The visitor team certainly missed the firepower of the multiple injured starters.
Iskra: Kruglov – 17, Spiridonov – 16, Schops – 14, Astashenkov – 12.
Tyumen: Kiktev – 17, Dubrovin – 11.
Lokomotiv (Novosibirsk) – Lokomotiv-Izumrud (Ekaterinburg) 3:0 (27:25, 25:22, 25:20)
The fate of the game was decided in the serve and reception area. Novosibirsk was overwhelming better in both: they made total 7 errors against Izumrud’s 20 errors. They had also 8 aces vs. a single on by the visitors. Both middle blockers played great for the host team contributing 8 points each. Lee effectiveness was 71% and Kazakov’s was 63%. Priddy had two aces, but had some problems in offense and finished with 39% effectiveness. Pavlov scored most for his team.
Aleksiev was the top player for Izumrud. Pyatak had 5 blocks.
Izumrod extended their winless series in Novosibirsk: they have not won here since 2005 (!). The loss moved Izumrud down a place. They have now the 10th spot. Novosibirsk move up a step and now tied with Iskra on the 2 and 3 places with the same 24 points.
Novosibirsk: Pavlov – 15, Leonenko, Priddy – all 12, Kazakova, Lee – all 8.
Izumrud: Aleksiev – 17, Krasnoperov, Tarasov – 12, Pyatak – 7.
Ural (Ufa) – Dynamo (Moscow) 0:3 (17:25, 23:25, 21:25)
Starovic and Volvich did not played well in the first set and were sent to the bench. Without their young guns, Ufa did not have chance to stand up to the Moscow team. Dynamo was serving well and forced a lot of reception errors from opponents. Dante and Poltavsky both played great and scored 15 points each. Dante’s effectiveness was 72%. With these two spikers got going, there was not much needed from the rest players. Good game for Dynamo, but they still have negative win/loss ratio.
Home loss dropped Ural from the 7th place to the 9th. Dynamo stayed on the 6th place with 15 points, but the gap between them and the leading five teams is still huge 7 points.
Ural: Bovdui, Veresh – all 9;
Dynamo: Poltavsky, Dante – all 15, Berezhko – 7, Volkov – 6.
Lokomotiv-Belogorie (Belgorod) – Dynamo-Yantar (Kaliningrad) 3:0 (28:26, 25:20, 25:20)
Both team suffered costly losses in the previous round. The game showed that Lokomotiv is ready to move forward. Yantar still had problem with injuries: Khoroshev and Ryzhkov did not came to Belgorod, and Obmochaev and Tkachenko played out of the bench. Starting setter De Cecco played only in the second set. The absence of Yantar’s leaders decided the outcome of the game. Shipulin did not worried about the result and had time for some experiments. He tried “Kid” Musersky [1] in outside hitter position and used Khtei for reception. Khtei did great receiving ball 19 times witn 84% positive, but Musersky was not that great as outside hitter. Buryukov repaced Ilinykh starting from the second set and was among the best player of the game. With this win Belgorod moved up to the fourth place. Yantar lost 6th game in the roll and now are in the dangerous 11th place.
Belgorod: Khtei – 13, Biryukov – 12, Smolayr – 11, Musersky – 9.
Yantar: Eremin – 12, Zhilin – 9.
Gazprom-Yugra (Surgut) – Fakel (Novy Urengoi) 3:1 (29:27, 14:25, 27:25, 25:17)
The first and the second Superleague dropped their games synchronous. Yugra and Fakel played once already this season in Russian Cup semi-finals. Yugra won that game in the tie break. This time Fakel lost their main scorers Rossamakhin and Tretyakov. Substitute Mastyuk did block well (6 points), but did not spiked well. All Fakel starters earned in double digits, but that was not enough for the victory.
Krasikov had another powerful performance for Yugra. The rest Surgut players had a good game too. Yugra had too many additional offensive options for Fakel to handle.
Yugra: Krasikov, Shulepov- 15, Proskurnya – 12, Maksimov, Guthalyuk – all 11.
Fakel: Rooney, Kosarev, Beketor – all 15 points, Kritsky – 11, Mastyuk – 10.
Numbers…. Well, a lot of numbers (stats and etc.)
Best Scores:
Mikhailov – 30; Krasikov – 21, Kruglov – 18, Kiktev, Aleksiev – all 17, Spiridonov, Cheremisin – all 16.
Best Spikers (Points/Errors/Succ %):
Dante – 13/0/72; Mikhailov – 26/4/62; Kulikovsky – 11/1/61; Krasikov – 20/2/57.
Best Blockers:
Smolyar – 7; Proskurnya, Mastyuk, Astashenkov – all 6.
Best Receivers (Total/Errors/Pos%):
Kashitsin – 26/1/73; Babichev – 30/1/70; Titich – 24/2/67.
Aces:
Kadjevich, Priddy, Pavlov, Kruglov, Zakharov, Mikhailov, Musersky, Leonenko – all 2.
[1] Musersky got his nick “Kid” for his towering 212 cm height.
