19/10/2011 19:09
Confident win for Zenit KAZAN
2012 CEV Volleyball Champions League - Men
Kazan, Russia, October 19, 2011. After seizing the bronze medal last week at the 2011 FIVB Club World Championship in Doha, Qatar, Russia’s champion Zenit KAZAN opened its adventure in the 2012 CEV Volleyball Champions League with a swift straight-set win over Germany’s VfB FRIEDRICHSHAFEN (25-20, 25-23, 25-22).
Zenit opened strongly with a 7:1 break in the first set scoring mainly via three players, as Nikolay Apalikov was shaking the German defense with his serves while Alexander Volkov and Maxim Mikhaylov were regularly stopping the attacks of VfB FRIEDRICHSHAFEN with their terrific blocks. After the guests were able to cut the gap, Zenit regained control of the operations with a precise hit of Yury Berezhko finishing it off at 25-20.
In set 2 Valerio Vermiglio, the Italian setter signed this season by Zenit, distributed most of the balls to his opposite Mikhaylov who was simply unstoppable scoring six times in a row to break equality and move the score up to 23:21. Brazilian Idner Faustino Lima minimized once again the difference for VfB but Evgeny Sivozhelez sealed the provisional 2:0 for the home side.
The guys from the Lake of Constance – namely Oliver Venno and Milos Vemic – caused some problems to Russian libero Alexey Obmochaev with their strong serves in the opening of set 3 but the decisive break for KAZAN was contributed by the serving turn of Vermiglio (14:7). A double substitution for FRIEDRICHSHAFEN did not help turn the odds around and Zenit could take home the match in straight sets with Mikhaylov having scored a total of 15 points, well supported by Volkov and Sivozhelez who blocked 4 times apiece.
“Today we were pretty good in serving and our blocks were effective as well” stated Apalikov. “It was quite a confident victory in a home match, as for the away match it will be surely tough. Having its fans on the stands VfB FRIEDRICHSHAFEN plays completely different”.
“I can single out Maxim Mikhaylov, - the head coach of Zenit KAZAN, Vladimir Alekno said. – It’s Maxim and other players of the Russian national team who lead Zenit KAZAN to the victory”.
“I expected such a result - the head coach of VfB FRIEDRICHSHAFEN, Stelian Moculescu said. “At the moment it is above our strength to outplay such rival as Zenit KAZAN. We will fight for the second place in the group”.
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