The Dinamo Kazan team gave no chance for the Chemik Polish team at the guest match of the 2nd round of the Champions League and confidently won in three sets.

Before the game, the Polish coach Jakub Gluszak called Dinamo Kazan as "the most difficult rival in the group stage". Indeed, today's match can determine who will become the leader in the C group of the Champions League. What is more, the Russian volleyball players are in a more difficult situation, because they had to get to Koszalin from Chelyabinsk - through four time zones and with many transfers.

The 1st set. Voronkova with her jump serve "kills on the fly" the Polish serve return - 2:6. Although soon Simeonova and Belcik throw aces to the Kazan volleyball players. What is more, Belcik makes a series of serves and almost equalizes the score - 8:10. However, in general, the Russians are much more focused and effective on the serve, and this becomes a determinative factor in the first set. After the ace of Irina Koroleva - the sixth Dinamo’s ace! - the score becomes 14:22 in favor of the guests, and the outcome of the set is already obvious.

The 2nd set. At the very beginning of the set, the Polish coach Gluszak is forced to substitute the Serbian Bianca Busha, who failed the serve return in the first round. Her substitutor Malwina Smarzek is slightly better at the return and in the attack - 7:8. But she can not compare to Irina Voronkova, who shows the perfect attack, serve and even defense. Thanks to her actions, Dinamo-Kazan again makes a strike - 11:16. The Polish team, despite all the efforts, can not approach the rivals more than three points until the very end of the set.

The 3rd set. The main struggle unfolds in the third set. Owing the game, Dinamo slightly reduces the speed. At the same time, the local audience continues to cheer on the Polish team- 7: 7. However, the Russians, confronting the opposition, quickly restore the concentration. Yevgenia Startseva often delivers a pass to the first tempo; Anastasia Samoylenko and Irina Koroleva just “shoot” the defense of Chemik - 12:18. It is surprising, but the Polish team, which includes a silver medalist of the Olympics -2016 - the central blocker Stefana Veljkovic, does not conduct attacks in the center of the net. And the excessively involved Polish outside forwards get tired by the end of the third set and start making mistakes - 17:24 after two mistakes of Zaroslinska and Smarzek. The opposite player of Dinamo-Kazan Natalia Mammadova makes a victorious point in the match.

Jakub Głuszak, coach of Chemik POLICE: “They served very strong, especially Voronkova. Nobody in the Polish league can serve that strong, so it was something new for us. My players tried to adjust to it, but it took too much time. We fought, but Dinamo was stronger and that is the reason for our 0-3 loss.”

Strashimira Simeonova, player of Chemik: “They are used to play without solid reception, whereas we simply just aren’t. Our game is efficient when the reception is good; otherwise, it is hard to provide resistance in a game with such a team as Dinamo. Nevertheless, I believe that the rematch could be different.”

Champions League. Pool С. 2nd tour.
Chemik (Police, Poland) – Dinamo (Kazan, Russia) - 0:3 (17:25, 20:25, 19:25)
10th January. Poland. Koszalin. Hala Sportowo-Widowiskowa.
Referee: Cesare S. (Italy). Match time: 1.23 (26+27+30).
Chemik: Busa, Belcik – C (2), Veljkovic (4), Medrzyk (8), Simeonova (5), Zaroslinska (13) – starting line-up, Krzos (libero), Holston (1), Smarzek (8), Mirkovic (1).
Dinamo: Koroleva (14), Voronkova (18), Mammadova (14), Startseva – C (4), Vasileva (7), Samoilenko (11) – starting line-up, Ulanova (libero), Kotikova, Filishtinskaia.
Points – 56:75, serve – 6:9, spike – 31:52, block – 5:7, reception – 39%:38%, errors – 15:17.
(Statistics by “Dinamo Kazan” coach-statistics M.Kuzovenin)