24/02/2016 19:41
Dinamo KAZAN claim also re-match of Russian derby to progress to Playoffs 6
2016 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League - Women
Kazan, Russia, February 24, 2016. In the second leg of the Playoffs 12, 2014 gold medal winners Dinamo KAZAN triumphed over their compatriots of Uralochka-NTMK EKATERINBURG recording a second 3-1 victory (23-25, 25-16, 25-21, 25-22) in two weeks over Russia’s most decorated club of all times, thus securing their qualification for the Playoffs 6 of the 2016 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League – Women.
Kazan hosted the re-match of this Russian derby after only three days ago, on February 21, Dinamo and Uralochka had crossed their ways at the Saint Petersburg Volleyball Centre in a matchup on schedule for the Russian Superleague. Uralochka had performed extremely well claiming the first and second sets of that match before Dinamo KAZAN came from behind to seal a hard-fought 3-2 win (16-25, 22-25, 25-18, 28-26, 15-13). The team from the capital of Tatarstan repeated their home triumph on Wednesday night and actually the fate of the game was determined already after the third set since Dinamo KAZAN needed ‘only’ two more sets to progress to the Playoffs 6 following their 3-1 away win in Ekaterinburg from two weeks ago.
The hosts started out strong claiming an early 7-4 lead in the opening set but they ended up trailing 8-7 at the first technical time-out as Uralochka fought back with Daria Evtukhova standing behind the service line. Though it was a close race through to the end, Uralochka eventually had the upper hand at 25-23.
Dinamo KAZAN fired back in the early stages of the second set setting the pace of the game right from the outbreak of the period (8-3). This time around Uralochka could not find a way to stop the attacks killed by Elitsa Vasileva and Ekaterina Gamova (pictured) who demolished the defence of their opponent with some powerful serves (21-12) before the set came to an end at 25-16.
Everything went quite easy for Dinamo KAZAN also in the third set and as a result of their win in this period the Tatars secured their progression to the Playoffs 6. After achieving their ultimate goal, the hosts slowed their tempo down a bit and trailed 8-6 in the fourth set. However, they got back on track with Evgeniya Startseva’s serving (12-10) before Uralochka stormed back again to make it 19-all by exploiting some mistakes made by the home side. However, Dinamo did not lose focus and won the fourth set as well to comfortably move on to the next stage of Europe’s premier club competition.
Dzianis Matsveyeu, assistant coach of Dinamo KAZAN, said: “Every match is unique. We managed to forget about what happened in the match we played only a few days ago, learned our lesson and moved on from there. Tonight’s match really shows that our team can play steadily and with the right consistency. The players showed stability also from a mental standpoint and we can now focus on preparing for the next matches. Our players executed the game plan very accurately and implemented all the tactical options we had agreed upon, so this three-point victory is just the logical consequence of that.”
Vladimir Vertelko, coach of Uralochka-NTMK EKATERINBURG, commented: “Tonight we did not perform at the same level as in our match with Dinamo KAZAN from last Sunday. I therefore congratulate Dinamo on their victory and wish them every success in their journey in this competition. Unfortunately, our team was not lucky enough today.”
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