In the 1st tour closing match of the Champions League group stage, the Dinamo-Ak Bars second team blanked the Czech Olomouc.

 

Kazan's team’s performance in the first tour of the Champions League has to be recognized as unsuccessful. Still, at least one win was necessary. Nevertheless, for the fight against the Czech champions, the Head Coach fielded young 16-18 year-old girls. On the other hand, these girls had a much stronger competitive spirit than the team leaders, crushed by two defeats. 

 

Seeing the young players behind the net, the Czechs attempted to impose a fight – 4:5. But in an advantageous lineup at a serve with the setter Popova and three front-row forwards, the Kazan players rained a storm of attacks down the rivals and rushed forward – 19:9. The Czechs gave chase and even forced Gilyazutdinov to take a time-out – 22:17. However, after the coach’s instructions, Tatiana Kadochkina decided the first set with a pair of attacks and an ace.

 

At the beginning of the second set, the Czech team dominated again – 5:7. But then the enhanced serve and the excellent performance of Kazan blockers broke the game – 12:9. The young Russians continued active attacks and confidently retained the score gap – 18:15. In the end, as Taisia Konovalova started to serve, they dashed to the score fatal for their rivals – 23:15.

 

With the positive emotions, the Kazan players rushed forward to victory – 7:4 after a series with Arina Fedorovtseva’s serve. However, after a coach’s time-out, the Czechs realized that it was their last chance and managed to organize resistance – 16:15. Still, under the attacks of Fedorovtseva, they had to retreat – 21:17. The Czech counterattack was broken with the Kazaners’ block – 24:19. The final strike by Kadochkina brought Dinamo-Ak Bars the first and so far the only win in the Champions League this season.

 

Olga Biryukova, outside spiker of Dinamo-Ak Bars KAZAN: "It's our first victory in the 2021 CEV Champions League and we are happy about it, but we are also sad for having lost the previous two games. We will prepare for the tournament in Szczecin to the best of our abilities, in order to score more points and try to reach the Playoff phase."

 

Maria Schlegel, outside spiker of VK UP OLOMOUC: "We are so happy for our performances, we are growing a lot as a team and we should consider that for several weeks we could not play volleyball at all. We were only able to train outdoors because of the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions in our country. We fought in all three matches and in the end it is okay that we lost because we can be proud of our spirit."

 

Champions League. 4th round. Group E. 1st tour.

Dinamo Ak-Bars – Olomouc - 3:0 (25:18, 25:17, 25:20)

26 November. Italy. Novara. Pala Igor Gorgonzola.

Referee: Wolf Ch. (Switzerland). Match time: 1.09 (24+22+23).

Dinamo: Biryukova (12), Maryukhnich (3), Koroleva (8), Popova (2), Fedorovtseva (19), Kadochkina (14) – starting line-up, Podkopaeva (libero), Konovalova.

Olomouc: Madsen (2), Pilepic (12), Nova (9), Stumpelova (5), Valkova – С (2), Schlegel (14) – starting line-up, Zilberman (libero), Kulova.

Points – 75:55, serve – 10:6, spike – 39(44%):35(37%), block – 10:3, reception – 43%:42%, errors – 17:21.

(Statistics by “Dinamo Kazan” coach-statistics M.Kuzovenin)