After beating Azerbaijan’s Azerrail BAKU by 3:0 (25-9, 25-21, 25-20) in their second home match in Pool A, Russia’s Dinamo KAZAN cashed their third consecutive victory in the 2016 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League – Women to comfortably top the standing of their group.

Azerrail was the second team from Baku that Dinamo KAZAN got to host at St. Petersburg Volleyball Centre this season. The visiting team were undoubtedly striving for avenging the defeat their compatriots playing for Lokomotiv BAKU had suffered to the Russian armada in late October. However, Azerrail’s chances for revenge seemed to be rather slim knowing that Lokomotiv BAKU have wiped off their countrywomen twice already this year. On the other hand, Volleyball is a game and the match still could have an unpredictable outcome.

Thanks to masterful serves and their impeccable block, the players of Dinamo KAZAN seized the initiative right from the start of the match. Between the first and the second technical time-outs of the opening set the Tatar armada comfortably cruised through giving just one point away – 16:5. The real actions followed only in the second set when the Azerbaijani team were able to find their way into the match and to stay a bit more competitive. After easily cashing the opening set, on the other hand, Dinamo KAZAN lost concentration and paid the price for this. However, the taller spikers of Zenit KAZAN managed to gradually turn the tide and got the upper hand in the end (25-21).

After a fairly close second set, Azerrail BAKU realised that Dinamo KAZAN was maybe not invincible and could be challenged. The joyful cheers of Azerrail’s players could be heard more and more often especially after they extended their lead to seven points in set 3 – 5:12. However, with the support of their fans from the stands, Dinamo KAZAN started their comeback, and Evgeniya Startseva and Elena Yureva scored a couple of powerful aces to eventually tie the count at 13:13. The rallies that followed were truly spectacular and the game itself unfolded with the two teams playing head-to-head till the very end of the set. However, the hosts were the ones to celebrate (25-20) a 3:0 victory that keeps their immaculate record in the competition.

Asked if the reason for such terrific start was the fact of having thoroughly analysed the opponent, the assistant coach of Dinamo KAZAN Dzianis Matsveyeu said: “The key thing is not that we scouted them better. Most likely, our competitors initially were hesitating a bit – they were trying to improve their tactics and to adjust them depending on how we played. In the second set, they got used to our pace and way of playing, reviewed their game plan and tuned up to counteract our tactics playing their own game as well. So they got adjusted and started to play in such way that they would keep our pace and made us work hard for the result.” Home star Ekaterina Gamova was back from injury and played the whole game: “Let us say we are gradually moving to the goals we have set,” Matsveyeu added. “Of course, she has been training and working hard so far. But I would not comment any further.”

Bülent Karslioglu, head coach of Azerrail BAKU, said: “In the first set we made a lot of mistakes, especially in reception. That caused a lot of difficulties in attack as well. Ultimately, this is showed by the final score. In the second and third sets, on the other hand, we improved our serve and our reception as well and eventually made it easier for our spikers and opposites to finish their attacks. But unfortunately, at critical moments, we still made an array of mistakes that resulted in our team losing the last two sets.” Azerrail and Dinamo KAZAN will be crossing their ways once more in two weeks in Baku: “We will play at home, and, you know, the stands at home are your friends,” Karslioglu said. “Undoubtedly, we will learn from tonight’s match and analyse everything in detail. And I hope that in Baku we will play much better than we did today.”

Champions League. Pool A. 3rd Leg.
Dinamo (Kazan, Russia) – Azerrail (Baku, Azerbajan) – 3:0 (25:9, 25:21, 25:20)
26th November. Kazan. Volleyball Center «Saint Petersburg».
Referee: Piasetski A. (Belarus). Tima match: 1.16 (20+28+28).
Dinamo: Borodakova – C (3), Gendel (12), Gamova (12), Startseva (3), Del Core (12), Vasileva (14) – start six, Ezhova (libero), Melnikova.
Azerrail: Bayramova – C (6), Kingdon (7), Eckerman (11), Tow-Arnett, Filipova (7), Tomkom (1) – start six, Buakaew (libero), Poznyak (2), Mammadova, Valentin, Diouck.
Points – 75:50, serve – 5:2, attack – 41:31, block – 12:1, reception – 62%:42%, error – 14:19.