Russia: Zenit St. Petersburg end 14-game losing streak vs. Dinamo Moscow! Zenit-Kazan turn around 0-2 against Lokomotiv, Fakel at 4-0 and the others of Round 4

The best four teams from last season’s Russian Volleyball Championship faced each others in Round 4 of this season’s competition!

In a duel of the two undefeated sides in the 2022/23 PARI Суперлига мужчины, PARI Superliga, the fourth-ranked club from last season Zenit Saint-Petersburg defeated the defending champions Dinamo Moscow by 3-1 (25:23, 17:25, 25:21, 25:23). Interestingly, this was the first win of Zenit over these rivals after 14 lost games in a row and almost three years (December 25, 2019), after which they remained at the top of the current standings, tied in points with the most pleasant surprise of this season (along with Dinamo-LO), Fakel Novy Urengoy.
Viktor Poletaev top-scored for the winners with 20 points, including 4 aces, while Ivan Yakovlev made 6 blocks. The Bulgarian opposite Tsvetan Sokolov scored 23 points for Dinamo while Ilya Vlasov had 4 blocks.

In the other greqy derby of this round the current bronze medalists Zenit-Kazan earned a strong deserved victory in Novosibirsk over the vice-champions Lokomotiv. The team commanded by Aleksey Verbov won after trailing 0-2 in sets (29:27, 25:23, 21:25, 21:25, 6:15).
Dmitriy Volkov was Zenit-Kazan’s most prolific player with 21 points while Andrey Surmachevskiy and Artem Volvich made 4 blocks each. Ilya Kazachenkov was the absolute top scorer of the match with 32 points on the other side.

Fakel continued to surprise the Russian volleyball fans. In fact, the team from Novy Urengoy outplayed second-to-last and also winless Stroitel from Belarus at home. 3-0 was the final result, partially 25:20, 25:11 and 25:20. Thus, the team commanded by the former legendary Russian National
Team member Roman Yakovlev extended its winning streak to four matches and no defeats so far. Stanislav Dineykin, the son of another big name in Russian Volleyball with the same name, Stanislav Dineykin, put down 16 points for Fakel.

Straight sets wins also for Yenisei Krasnoyarsk over Kuzbass Kemerovo (25:19, 25:16, 25:23), Belogorie Belgorod on the field of Orenburg (12:25, 19:25, 18:25), Gazprom-Yugra Surgut over ASK Nizhny Novgorod (27:25, 26:24, 25:18) and Ural Ufa over Yugra-Samotlor Nizhnevartovsk 3-0 (31:29, 29:27, 25:18).

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🇷🇺| 2022/23 PARI Суперлига | Round 4

👉🏼 Wednesday| October 19, 2022
• Yenisei Krasnoyarsk – Kuzbass Kemerovo 3-0 (25:19, 25:16, 25:23)
• Lokomotiv Novosibirsk – Zenit Kazan 2-3 (29:27, 25:23, 21:25, 21:25, 6:15)
• Orenburg – Belogorie Belgorod 0-3 (12:25, 19:25, 18:25)
• Fakel Novy Urengoy – Stroitel Minsk 3-0 (25:20, 25:11, 25:20)
• Gazprom-Yugra Surgut – ASK Nizhny Novgorod 3-0 (27:25, 26:24, 25:18)
• Ural Ufa – Yugra-Samotlor Nizhnevartovsk 3-0 (31:29, 29:27, 25:18)
• Dynamo Moscow – Zenit St. Petersburg 1-3 (23:25, 25:17, 21:25, 23:25)

| Thursday | October 20, 2022
• Nova Novokuybyshevsk – Dinamo LO

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🏐| STANDINGS (updated on this day)
1. Zenit St. Petersburg 12
2. Fakel Novy Urengoy 12
3. Dynamo-LO 9
4. Belogorie Belgorod 9
5. Zenit Kazan 9
6. Dynamo Moscow 8
7. Lokomotiv Novosibirsk 7
8. Ural Ufa 6
9. Kuzbass Kemerovo 5
10. ASK Nizhny Novgorod 5
11. Gazprom-Yugra Surgut 5
12. Yugra-Samotlor Nizhnevartovsk 3
13. Yenisei Krasnoyarsk 3
14. Nova Novokuybyshevsk 0
15. Stroitel Minsk 0
16. Neftyanik Orenburg 0