The Russians shine in the Champions League. Review of the main volleyball news in the country and in the world
Elena Kovalenko November 20, 2023, 11:45 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
Foreign clubs with our volleyball players take first place! But there are also many interesting events on the national stage.
Another busy week of volleyball is behind us.
In the Russian championship, the leaders among the men’s and women’s teams continue to maintain their positions. In the Women’s Russian Cup, Lokomotiv suddenly stopped Dynamo. Sapozhkov is temporarily out of play in the Italian championship and Musersky is still in play in Japan! And in the Champions League, teams with Russian volleyball players head their subgroups.
Read more about this news and more in our review.
“Fakel” maintains the lead
Last week there were two rounds of the Men’s Super League, with a lot to see. In one of the most exciting matches of the week, Zenit St. Petersburg coach Viktor Sidelnikov surprised: his team played against Dinamo Moscow with a “4-2” formation, something unusual these days. Dmitry Kovalev found himself in the diagonal role and even became the most productive player on his team. But Zenit still lost.
Last week a match took place under the guise of a “national volleyball classic.” Belogorye beat Zenit Kazan 3:1.
Read more about the match in our report:
The champions were upset again. “Belogorye” won a resounding victory over “Zenit-Kazan”
And the leader of the championship, “Fakel” from New Urengoy, beat “Yugra-Samotlor” at home (3-1), and then left no chance for “Nova” from Novokuibyshevsk (3-0). And they already have six victories in six games played. But will Novy Urengoy’s team be able to establish itself at the top? After all, the next rivals will be much more serious: last season’s champion Zenit Kazan, Dynamo Moscow and Lokomotiv Novosibirsk.
In the women’s championship there is also a team without defeat: Dinamo Moscow. On the seventh round, the Muscovites only faltered in the first game of the match against Tulitsa, but extended their winning streak.
Kazan “Dynamo-Ak Bars” volleyball players rose to third place in the standings after defeating Saratov “Proton” 3:0. There was only fighting in the first two sets, where the home team performed more consistently in the finals. And Kaliningrad Lokomotiv continued its decline at the end of November: four defeats in a row and ninth place in the standings. This is the worst result of a big club in the championship so far. In the last match, the team won 2:0 against Leningradka. But the home team managed to fight back and lead the game to a 3:2 victory.
Sensation in the Russian Cup
Meanwhile, the Russian Cup advances to the final. On Saturday the women played the first games of the semifinal series. If Lokomotiv Kaliningrad did not do well in the championship, they were able to surprise in the Cup. The team beat the capital’s Dinamo 3:0! And he returned the favor of the previously lost games: in the semifinals of the Centenario Cup and in the Super Cup.
This was a really unexpected result:
Sensational defeat for the championship leaders! “Dynamo” interrupted a fantastic series
In the second pair, Leningrad almost came back from behind and could not recover from the 0-2 score in the match against Dinamo Kazan. But Zoran Terzic’s team managed to win in the decisive fifth match (15:12) and take a step towards the final phase of the National Cup.
The second leg of the semi-finals will be played on November 25.
How are we doing in Europe?
In the Champions League, the clubs in which Russian volleyball players play occupy the first positions in their groups. Quartet B is led by “Exacibashi” and “Scandicci”. Irina Voronkova’s Turkish team beat the Bulgarian Maritsa and the Hungarian Vas Budapest by the same score 3:0. The same results in matches with these teams showed the Club of Italy, where Ekaterina Antropova plays. In this way, both clubs share first place in their group and will soon face each other.
Another Turkish club, featuring Arina Fedorovtseva and Irina Fetisova, leads Group C alone. Fenerbahçe defeated Slovenia’s Kaltsit Kamnik and Germany’s Potsdam in three sets.
Arina Fedorovtseva at Fenerbahce
Photo: VC Fenerbahce
In group E, on the first line is the French “Le Cannet”, where four Russians play at once: Anna Kotikova, Victoria Roussou, Anastasia Lyashko and Elizaveta Kochurina. The Club won its two matches: against the Ukrainian Prometheus (3-0) and against the Romanian Alba Blaj (3-2). By the way, another representative of Russian volleyball, Bogumila Byarda, plays in the Romanian team. And while her team follows the leader of this group.
In another European tournament, the Challenge Cup, the Italian Novara participates, in which the Russian Vita Akimova plays. In the round of 16, her team easily defeated the Norwegian Randaberg. Both matches ended with a score of 3:0. Next, Novara will face Greek side Olympiacos.
The men will begin their European competition this week.
Vita Akimova shines in Italy:
The Russian is the best player of the month in Italy. And other important events in the world of volleyball
Successes of Russians in foreign championships.
Now let’s look at other players from Russia who do not participate in cup battles, but play in foreign championships.
First of all, what’s in Italy? There, Maxim Sapozhkov, one of Modena’s main forwards, remains sidelined. Maxim’s back problems worsened in the match against Perugia. The volleyball player watched the next match from the stands. His team beat Padua 3:1. In the match against Lube Civitanova, Sapozhkov was in the lineup, but he never appeared on the court.
“Modena”
Photo: modenavolley.it
Trentino, in which Yana Shcherban plays, closes the Italian championship classification. A little higher, at number 12, is “Volefoglia” by Tatyana Kosheleva. “Novara” by Vita Akimova takes second place. “Scandicci” with Ekaterina Antropova closes the top three.
Let’s go to Türkiye. It was there that one of the most experienced Russian volleyball players, Igor Kolodinsky, moved. The Russian point guard made his debut in the Efeler League as part of the Develi club. Igor was among the starting six and helped his new club to a convincing victory in the match against Bigadich’s team 3:0.
How Russian volleyball players play abroad:
Isn’t Fedorovtseva Türkiye’s top star? Russian volleyball players are falling apart abroad
Olympic champion Yuri Berezhko plays for another Turkish club, Spor Toto. At the weekend his team lost to Ziraat Bankasi 0:3.
And for dessert: The Land of the Rising Sun. Dmitry Musersky with Suntory Sunbirds leads the Japanese championship. The Russian volleyball player is the most productive player in the V-League. He has 259 points scored.
