Busto Arsizio, Italy, April 15, 2017. Dinamo KAZAN are the winners of the 2017 CEV Volleyball Cup – Women! The Russian ‘armada’ achieved this feat after claiming their second matchup with Unet Yamamay BUSTO ARSIZIO 3-2 (23-25, 16-25, 25-12, 25-21, 15-12) to follow on the 3-1 victory they achieved this past Tuesday on home soil. This result accounts for Dinamo’s second European trophy – the Russians had previously stood on top of the podium of the elite CEV Volleyball Champions League in 2014.

The ‘grand finale’ of this year’s CEV Volleyball Cup was a real show for some 3,500 fans in attendance at Palayamamay. Irina Zariazhko and Irina Voronkova – who scored 14 and 19 points, respectively – played a leading role in Dinamo’s victory. Valentina Diouf – who scored 22 times for the home side – received the award for the MVP of the finals.  

Unet Yamamay caught a promising start to the match with Diouf scoring eight points for the hosts in the first set (Voronkova recorded seven for Dinamo) on the way to a 25-23 win sealed by a block from Federica Stufi.

Dinamo KAZAN struggled to find their game in the second set – and Unet Yamamay imposed their rule with Stufi and Valentina Fiorin scoring five points and three blocks, respectively, for a compelling 25-16 win.

Dinamo, however, responded and single-handedly won the third set (25-12) with Zariazhko scoring five times and Voronkova successfully finishing 50% of her attempts in attack.

The fourth set was a close battle – Diouf scored seven points but Daria Isaeva and Voronkova proved decisive for Dinamo towards the end (25-21). The tiebreak did not have any significance since by taking two sets Dinamo had already made sure they would raise the cup.

Elitsa Vasileva, player of Dinamo KAZAN: “It was a very difficult game similar to the match we played in Kazan a few days ago. We started very slowly, however we were able to react and win. I am very happy for my team.”

Noemi Signorile, player of Unet Yamamay BUSTO ARSIZIO: “We tried our best and we have quite some regrets because we were only a few points away from causing a sensation. We feel sorry especially for the great fans who supported us in such an amazing way tonight.”

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