Translated material
The third one is coming
“Zarechye-Odintsovo” can become the new champion of Russia
Today begins the “golden” confrontation between the teams “Zarechye-Odintsovo” and “Dynamo” (Moscow) in the national championship among women’s teams. This series, which will last until three victories and will take place on April 18, 19, 23 and, if necessary, April 24 and 27, can give Russia a new champion. After all, after the collapse of the USSR, only two clubs managed to climb to the highest step of the podium - the Yekaterinburg Uralochka (1992-2005) and the same Dynamo team in the last two tournaments (2006, 2007).“Dynamo” and “Zarechye” have already played in the super final, but two years ago the Muscovites were much stronger in composition and won three matches against their opponents without any problems. Throughout the current championship, Zarechye looked like the favorite, having not lost a single match in the regular season, but before the decisive meetings, the teams’ chances seem approximately equal. The club from Odintsovo already had troubles in the playoffs - the main setter Irina Zhukova injured her knee. According to team coach Vadim Pankov, she will have surgery and will no longer be able to play in this championship. However, it cannot be one hundred percent ruled out that Zhukova will still be able to appear on the site. Without her, the biggest problems may arise with the realization of the attacking potential of Zarechye's main scorer Lyubov Sokolova, with whom excellent interactions were established - she and Zhukova came to the club together.
However, in the third match of the semi-final series with Spartak Omsk, the Ukrainian legionnaire was successfully replaced by second setter Anna Matienko, who made no mistakes, fulfilled the coaching instructions for the game and coped with the role of carrying equipment for the leader. And yet, it would be wrong to present the upcoming battle between “Dynamo” and “Zarechye” as a duel between the two main team scorers, Ekaterina Gamova and Sokolova. The outcome of the series can be decided not only by their individual abilities in attack, but, above all, by a more balanced play of one of the two teams in all lines.
During the season, the Blue and White had problems with blockers. 2006 world champion Maria Borisenko (Borodakova) was recovering from surgery; experienced Athens Olympic participant Olga Nikolaeva and Russian-speaking Pole Maria Liktoras were injured. It even got to the point that the role of the first pace striker had to be played by the finishing player Elena Godina, who missed the first half of the season, again due to health problems. Now the Muscovites have all their personnel problems behind them, and the team is on the move. “Blue and White” need to rehabilitate themselves in front of their fans for their not very bright performance in the Champions League and the loss of last year’s positions. If in the previous season the Muscovites played in the main final, this time they were only able to reach the Round of Twelve, where they lost to the Italian Jezi.
In the final game, Dynamo's main performers are Godina and the American Logan Tom; Olga Pegachkova (Ilyina) and Lesya Makhno can replace them. The latter periodically ends up on the list of candidates for the Russian national team. The head coach of the team, Leonid Zaiko, of the two liberos at his disposal, Ekaterina Kabeshova, chose the naturalized Ukrainian Elena Yezhova, sending the volleyball student from the city of Shuya to Leningradka on loan. Paradox: the libero of the national team has no place in the composition of his club. Although Zaiko has her own view of Kabeshova’s game, this was already the case two seasons ago, when Ekaterina could not stand the competition with her role colleague Victoria Podkopaeva (now Kuzyakina).
“Zarechye” has more players from the Russian national team - tall (202 cm) blocker Yulia Merkulova, libero Svetlana Kryuchkova, Sokolova, diagonal Olga Fateeva, finishing player Natalya Safronova, Tatyana Kosheleva is considered a candidate. After the Final Four of the Champions League, the team’s head coach Vadim Pankov already said that in order to solve more serious problems, Zarechye for the next season will need a diagonal of a different level. Fateeva plays without any visible disruptions, but the entire load in the attack still goes through Sokolova. Another blocker, Zhanna Pronicheva, has experience participating in the Olympics. True, she defended the colors of the Greek national team in Athens (under the name Pronyadou).
The teams have already met twice this season. At the beginning of February, as part of the Russian Championship, volleyball players from the Moscow Region prevailed in three games on their court, but on New Year’s Eve, a real battle took place between the principle rivals in the final of the Russian Cup. And here Vadim Pankov’s team performed at home, putting the finishing touches on the “blue and white” in the tiebreaker of the fifth game.
In the semi-final matches of the playoffs, Zarechye made its first misfire, losing in Omsk. Dynamo turned out to be stronger than Uralochka twice, although the Moscow match was held in the maximum format. Now the balance of power may change. Still, the setter of the capital's Dynamo, Tatyana Gracheva, is superior to her counterpart Matienko in skill, experience in participating in serious tournaments and decisive matches.
In the series for third place, Uralochka and Omsk Spartak will play at similar times. “University-Belogorye” and “Leningradka” will compete for the fifth place in the European Cup. These series will also be best-of-three.