Baia Mare, Romania, October 25, 2011. Russian champion Zenit KAZAN won their 2012 CEV Volleyball Champions League away match against Remat ZALAU, defeating the Romanian team in straight sets (22-25, 16-25, 22-25). The ambition of Remat wasn’t enough to claim any set, even though they courageously engaged in a tremendous battle. Despite the fact that the players of Remat fought bravely, they couldn’t avoid the loss. Zenit controlled the match in all key moments, showing a great form and being quite relaxed.
The atmosphere at “Lascar Pana” sports hall in Baia Mare was breathtaking, the players from both teams being warm-heartedly welcomed by the fans from Baia Mare and Zalau. The wonderful audience enjoyed every single moment of the game, from the great attacks of Remat’s Peter Nagy and Zenit’s Maxim Mikhailov to the outstanding rallies from the third set.

The first and third sets were balanced, with both teams playing hardball to take the lead. Zenit KAZAN managed to overcome Remat ZALAU only at the end of both sets, after a few successful attacks and some mistakes of the hosts. During the third set, Remat ZALAU impressed with a few spectacular blocks, which helped them take over for a short period of time.
However, Zenit dominated the entire second set, being able to win it with a margin of 9 points, taking a comfortable lead after the first technical time-out.

The head coach of Zenit KAZAN, Vladimir Alekno, stated after the match: “I am very satisfied with the result of this game. I tried not to use some of the players who are in the Russian national team, because I didn’t want to exhaust them too much. After this match, I can say that we were a lot stronger than Remat”.

Mariusz Sordyl, the head coach of Remat ZALAU, said: “It was a though game, but it was a new experience for us. Overall, we were expecting a very powerful Zenit, a team that is for sure very hard to beat”.