Translated material
Dynamic prelude
A week before the start of the Super League, cup battles took place
In Surgut, Ufa, Tyumen and Novosibirsk, matches of the semi-final stage of the National Cup took place, which determined all participants in the “Final Four” (November 28-30). The quartet of the strongest participants in the tournament included the current champion of Russia and the winner of the first Super Cup in the history of our volleyball - 2008, the capital's Dynamo, the winner of last year's Cup, the Kazan Zenit, the silver medalist of the Super League, the Odintsovo Iskra, and the Novosibirsk Lokomotiv.So far, foreign legionnaires are not very noticeable in the Super League teams, which in principle is not surprising. Their time will come in the regular season and playoffs, but for now many of them have not yet reached optimal shape, the peak of which this year came at the August Olympics. The “blue and white” from Moscow, who had already appeared before the public in the Super Cup a week ago, played in the semi-final cup stage with one Varangian (Argentine libero Gonzalez), and the star finisher of the Brazilian national team Dante was busy these days with his national team at the America's Cup.
In the key match with Yaroslavich, Dynamo were on the verge of failure - they lost in games 1:2, and in the fifth set the intrigue remained until the last rally - 15:13, still in favor of the Muscovites. This was the first Russian confrontation between two Italian mentors - Daniele Bagnoli and the new “helmsman” of Yaroslavl, Roberto Serniotti. Moreover, the latter somewhat surprised at the tournament in Surgut by placing the regular diagonal of the Russian national team Maxim Mikhailov in the final game, and in his place he appointed left-handed Canadian Dallas Sunias.
The only tournament held on a neutral site took place in Tyumen. Iskra, whose fans have been waiting for a big victory for a decade and a half (there is not a single serious title in the team’s track record), gave only one game to their opponents in three matches, confirming the seriousness of their intentions for the current season. Among the relative surprises, we can note the victory of the Nizhnevartovsk club “Ugra-Samotlor” over “Fakel” from Novy Urengoy, which was strengthened in the off-season by two newly-minted Olympic champions - American setter Kevin Hansen and Sean Rooney (ex-Dynamo-Yantar). The match between the winner of the 2007 CEV Cup and the team that took only tenth place in the championship last season turned out to be extremely tense. In the first game, 70 points were played - 36:34 in favor of “Fakel”, which won the next set. And then the advantage passed to the Nizhnevartovsk team, and in the tiebreaker they prevailed by a minimal margin - 15:13.
In Ufa, the tournament started with a sensation. The Kaliningrad team "Dynamo-Yantar", which left the elite following the results of the 2007/08 Super League, turned out to be stronger than the hosts (3:1), who finished sixth in the top world. True, it is impossible not to notice that in the summer the Baltic players strengthened themselves with such famous players as diagonal striker Roman Yakovlev (winner of the 1999 World Cup and winner of the 2002 World League), French setter Loïc De Kergre, participant in the 2008 All-Star Game and blocker Denis Chaus. And the Brazilian Paulo Pinto should not spoil the weather in the team led by the legendary setter of Russian volleyball Vyacheslav Zaitsev. Ural had problems with diagonals. Maxim Tereshin was injured, and the Beijing champion, American Gabriel Gardner, came on the court with a cold as a substitute.
The fate of a ticket to the Final Four was decided in the match between Zenit and Dynamo-Yantar. According to the new head coach of the Volga team, Vladimir Alekno, his players are not yet in the best shape, both in terms of physical readiness and tactical training. However, in the class, the club from the capital of Tatarstan beat the Kaliningraders, not letting them out of 20 points in a single game. The organizers of the tournament in Ufa determined the best players, and the prize for the strongest blocker went to Zenit player Alexander Abrosimov, who successfully fit into his new team after moving from Belgorod.
Three clubs of the railway department gathered in Novosibirsk at once. The famous cup fighter Loko-Belogorye arrived with a weakened squad. Missing was the captain of the Russian national team, setter Vadim Khamuttskikh, who returned to Belgorod after a two-year absence. After the Olympics, he had surgery on his knee and is now recovering. Instead, Sergei Bagrey, who was registered in the Super League for the second team of the Belgorod club system Metalloinvest (Stary Oskol), passed the ball.
Russian Cup. Men. Semifinal stage. Final position of the teams. Group “A” (Surgut). "Dynamo" M - 3 wins - 0 defeats, "Yaroslavich" - 2--1, "Gazprom-Yugra" 1--2, "Crystal" - 0--3. Group “B” (Tyumen). "Iskra" - 3-0, "Ugra-Samotlor" - 2--1, "Fakel" - 1--2, TNK-BP - 0-3. Group “B” (Ufa). "Zenit" - 3--0, "Dynamo-Yantar" - 2--1, "Ural" - 1--2, "Prikamye" - 0--3. Group "G" (Novosibirsk). "Lokomotiv" NS - 3--0, "Lokomotiv-Belogorye" - 2-1, NOVA - 1--2, "Lokomotiv-Izumrud" - 0--3.