Russia: St. Petersburg, Moscow and Fakel win the big matches of Round 19. Kazan, Kemerovo and Novosibirsk ko
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Round 19 of the Russian Super League was played entirely yesterday, on January 23, and it included 3 big-matches: in the first, in chronological order, Zenit St. Petersburg defeated Zenit Kazan 3-1 (without the injured Bednorz). After a first set decided by a Mikhaylov turn from the service line (from 17:16 to 17:21), it was just the opposite of the national team with a mediocre performance in attack (33%) to sink the chances to get out of the crisis of Alekno’s team, which has now arrived incredibly at 7 defeats in the last 8 games between championship and semifinal of the Russian Cup. For St. Petersburg excellent performances by Poletaev (18 points, 60% in attack, 2 blocks and the ace of 26:25 in the hard-fought 4th set) and Kliuka (65% in attack).
In the second, Fakel Novy Urengoy of the still absent head coach Placi defeated the reigning champions Lokomotiv Novosibirsk 3-1, making the difference from the service line (7 aces with only 8 errors) and in blocking (13 to 7).
In the last, Dinamo Moscow defeated Kuzbass Kemerovo 3-1, thus bypassing the Siberian formation in the standings. Excellent return in sextet (after the commitments in Bulgarian national team) of Sokolov (24 points, 58% in attack, 1 ace), but also of Podlesnykh (21 points, 50% in attack, 2 blocks and 2 ace). 10 points (with 2 aces and even 7 blocks!) also for the setter Pankov!
In the queue, the reworked Belogorie Belgorod (without Tetyukhin) continues to struggle, defeated 1-3 at home by Ural Ufa who, given Muzaj’s bad day, relied on Perrin and Feoktistov.
In the other games wins for Nizhniy Novgorod, Krasnoyarsk (decisive the return of Skrimov who scores 22 points with 64% in attack, 1 block and 7 aces) and Orenburg.
| Results of Round 19
| January 23
• Gazprom Surgut – ASK Nizhniy Novgorod 2:3 (25:18, 20:25, 25:18, 20:25, 13:15)
Top Scorers: Shchakhbanmirzaev 22, Fialkovskiy 15, Chereiskiy 13, Dovgan 11, Kostilenko 10; Vietskiy 23, Titich 19, Valeev 17, Nikonenko 9, AI. Melnikov 8.
• Belogorie Belgorod – Ural Ufa 1-3 (25:23, 21:25, 15:25, 17:25)
Top Scorers: Ilinykh 15, Samoylenko 12, Chervyakov 9, Nelli 8; Perrin 18, Feoktistov 17, Kolenkovskiy 12, Rybakov 10, Kulikov 8.
• Yenisey Krasnoyarsk – Yugra Samotlor Nizhnevartovsk 3-0 (25:17, 25:19, 25:22)
Top Scorers: Skrimov 22, Klets 11, Iereshchenko 9, Kritskiy 7; Papazov 10, Masliev 10, Piun 7, Makarenko 7.
• Fakel Novy Urengoy – Lokomotiv Novosibirsk 3-1 (25:23, 25:21, 20:25, 25:15)
Top Scorers: Volkov 19, Bogdan 17, Zhigalov 13, Gutsalyuk 10, Dikarev 8; Ivovic 20, Luburic 16, Savin 15, Kurkaev 7.
• Zenit St. Petersburg – Zenit Kazan 3-1 (21:25, 25:17, 25:17, 27:25)
Top Scorers: Poletaev 18, Kliuka 15, Pashytskyy 11, Iakovlev 9, Ursov 7, Brizard 2; Fedor Voronkov 19, Ngapeth 12, Kononov 11, Mikhaylov 10, Volkov 6, Butko 2.
• Dinamo Moscow – Kuzbass Kemerovo 3-1 (25:22, 25:23, 27:29, 25:16)
Top Scorers: Sokolov 24, Podlesnykh 21, Vlasov 10, Pankov 10, Likhosherstov 8, Semyshev 7; Zaytsev 19, Sivozhelez 12, Krsmanovic 8, Markin 7, Pakshin 6, Shcherbakov 5.
• Dinamo LO – Neftyanik Orenburg 2-3 (23:25, 25:19, 25:20, 18:25, 10:15)
Top Scorers: Alekseev 26, Biryukov 14, Abrosimov 12, Divis 10, Busel 8; Purin 28, Moroz 19, Ananiev 13, Kuhno 10, Kranin 5.
| Standings
Zenit St. Petersburg 42
Dinamo Moscow 41
Kuzbass Kemerovo 40
Zenit Kazan 37
Fakel Novy Urengoy 36
Ural Ufa 29
Lokomotiv Novosibirsk 24
Yenisey Krasnoyarsk 24
Yugra Samotlor Nizhnevartovsk 22
ASK Nizhniy Novgorod 17
Belogorie Belgorod 16
Gazprom Surgut 16
Dinamo LO 16
Neftyanik Orenburg 12
