Russia: victory for Novosibirsk, Kazan, Saint Petersburg, Fakel and Nizhnevartovsk in Saturday’s matches of Round 25

Some teams have concluded their campaign in the regular season of the 2020/21 Russian Superliga Parimatch.
Zenit-Kazan earned their 11th consecutive victory in all competitions, the 6th consecutive victory in competition.
In a delayed match of Round 25, they swept ASK Nizhniy Novgorod thanks to Maksim Mikhaylov’s 17 points and Artem Volvich’s 4 blocks and concluded their campaign in the regular season. Zenit-Kazan are currently 2nd in the charts, which is the last position that guarantees the direct passage to the Final Six.
However, given that 3rd placed Kuzbass have the same number of wins as Zenit-Kazan (19), just one point fewer (53) and 3 more matches to play, it is hardly likely that the team coached by Vladimir Alekno will retain the current ranking.
What is certain is that Zenit-Kazan definitely won’t fall below the 3rd position, regardless of the results of the remaining matches of other teams.

On the other matches played today, the 4th-placed Zenit Saint Petersburg and 5th-placed Fakel both scored victories, 1-3 on the field of Belogorie Belgorod and on the field Yenisey Krasnoyarsk with the same result, respectively.
It means that the last match they are about to play against their respective rivals will decide if they will keep these rankings. Both teams have 17 wins but Zenit St. Petersburg have one point more (52).
No upsets in the others: Lokomotiv Novosibirsk defeats Ural Ufa in straight sets on the road, and three points also for Yugra Samotlor Nizhnevartovsk, who defeats at home Neftyanik Orenburg in four sets.

| 2020/21 Russian Superliga Parimatch regular season – Round 25

| March 4
• Kuzbass Kemerovo – Dinamo LO 3:0 (25:21, 25:20, 25:19)

| March 6
• Ural Ufa – Lokomotiv Novosibirsk 0:3 (14:25, 23:25, 18:25)
Top Scorers: Rybakov 13, Feoktistov 8, Perrin 7; Kruglov 16, Kurkaev 13, Savin 11, Rodichev 9.

• ASK Nizhniy Novgorod – Zenit Kazan 0:3 (20:25, 19:25, 22:25)
Top Scorers: Vietskiy 11, Valeev 10, Nikonenko 9; Mikhaylov 17, Bednorz 13, Voronkov 10, Volvich 8.

• Belogorie Belgorod – Zenit Saint Petersburg 1:3 (25:22, 17:25, 14:25, 20:25)
Top Scorers: Sidenko 14, Ilinykh 12, Samoylenko 9, Kuznetsov 8, Chervyakov 8; Kliuka 16, Iakovlev 14, Podrebinkin 14, Pashytskyy 10.

• Yenisey Krasnoyarsk – Fakel Novy Urengoy 1:3 (25:22, 20:25, 21:25, 14:25)
Top Scorers: Klets 22, Skrimov 12, Iereshchenko 11; Zhigalov 20, Volkov 18, Bogdan 17, Dikarev 10.

• Yugra Samotlor Nizhnevartovsk – Neftyanik Orenburg 3:1 (25:23, 21:25, 25:21, 27:25)
Top Scorers: Masliev 19, Papazov 17, Makarenko 12; Shchemyatikhin 24, Purin 15, Shchadilov 11, Kozitsin 10, Ananiev 10.

| March 7
• Gazprom Surgut – Dinamo Moscow 0:3 (23:25, 30:32, 20:25)

| STANDINGS (updated on March 6)
Dinamo Moscow 60
Zenit Kazan 54
Kuzbass Kemerovo 53
Zenit Saint Petersburg 52
Fakel Novy Urengoy 51
Lokomotiv Novosibirsk 47
Ural Ufa 40
ASK Nizhniy Novgorod 30
Yugra Samotlor Nizhnevartovsk 32
Yenisey Krasnoyarsk 24
Gazprom Surgut 21
Dinamo LO 19
Belogorie Belgorod 17
Neftyanik Orenburg 13