Dynamo Kazan finished 2017 with a 3-1 (25-19, 26-24, 17-25, 25-16) home win over Dynamo Moscow to win its 4th ever Russian Cup.
D. Kazan came out strong in the first set, opening up a 7-2 league, but D. Moscow soon counter-attacked and was able to even things up by the middle of the set at 14-13. D. Kazan then made another push, and with the help of Natalya Mammadova opened up a 21-15 lead that soon turned into a 25-19 set win. In the second set, it was D. Moscow’s turn to start out strong, opening up an 8-3 lead. Elista Vasileva then ignited a D. Kazan comeback that evened the scores out at 13-13, 18-18, 24-23, and finally a 26-24 set win for D. Kazan.
In the third set, D. Kazan showed a lot of difficult with its reception, which allowed D. Moscow’s defense to shine, as it soon went up on a 7-4 lead, which in no time ballooned up to 18-12. D. Moscow went on to close the set in an easy 25-17. D. Kazan knew that in order to prevent a 5th set, it had to start the 4th strong. It did, taking a 8-3 lead behind Vasileva’s and Mammadova’s powerful attacks. Soon, the score ballooned up to 12-7, then 16-8, as D. Moscow was simply too tired to keep up with D. Kazan, and it soon succumbed to a 25-16 set loss. Mammadova finished the game with 20 points, while Nataliya Goncharova had 23 in the losing effort.
Now, both teams will focus on the Russian SuperLeague and the 2018 CEV Champions League.
Here are the post game reactions:
Alexander Perepyolkin, Dynamo Kazan’s headcoach:
(Interviewer) – You pulled out today a lot of tense rallies – they helped break Moscow’s resistance?
– It seems to me that it is precisely these rallies that are popular both for the fans and for us. This is an indicator of our good work of protection and psychological mood, when everyone is flying, they run after the ball. You yourself saw how Mamadova flew straight to the chairs in pursuit of the ball. And this applies to all. But it’s worth it, when Mammadova performs miracles in the attack and at the same time splashes behind every ball in defense. This is all a consequence of working in training and the team understanding the that this is very important.
(Interviewer) – What did you say to the players after the third set?
– There were tactical elements about which now it is not necessary to speak of. But there were important psychological moments. I believe that a real professional should be a bit of an actor and never show that something is wrong. It was necessary to force myself to believe in this act. Well, they lost the set, almost devastatedly lost – but on the fourth set we started confidently. Maybe it seemed that we look confident. But, in any case, this helped us a lot.
(Interviewer) – It seemed that Vasileva had a difficult game – did the opponents shut her out?
– Yes, today the opponent found an antidote against Elitsa. But she responded by finding the “antidote” twice as much! She very much played out from the block, which is her strong suit, since her attack is almost that of men’s volleyball height. Men, when an organized block is against them, often do not finish off the floor, everything is played on the fingers, at the height, at distant block-outs. We usually see that Elitsa hits only diagonally – fast and beautiful, everyone likes it. But when a strong team comes, this direction is covered, and defense becomes heavier. But today Elitsa showed that she has grown as a player – every day, she grows
(Interviewer) – Are you glad to give such a gift to the citizens of Kazan before the New Year?
– Of course, I’m very glad. We made this gift to ourselves and the fans. That’s great!
Zoran Terzic, Dynamo Moscow‘s head coach:
– Firstly, I’d like to say that Dynamo-Kazan won deservedly – they looked better today than we did. We did not get our attacking right in the game, and this was a big problem for us. We tried a lot to take risks in such situations. However, Kazan played much better. Mammadova, Vasileva and Irina Voronkova played better today than my hitters. If you want to beat Dynamo Kazan, you need to risk even more in the attack and on the court.
(Interviewer) – Was the ending of the second set decisive for the outcome of the game?
– Maybe. If we could’ve successfully close the set, the game would’ve been 1-1. After that, it would be easier for us to play. And I think that by the end of the game the result could be different. But this is volleyball, there’s nothing to be done.
(Interviewer) – How has Dynamo Kazan changed from the last time you faced it at the Super Bowl?
– Nothing has changed, but in the course of the season, Kazan is playing better and better as a team. I hope that this will be the case with us. I am very pleased with the work of my team in training, but in games they sometimes take another direction. But, firstly, Kazan is a very good team, they have two very good foreign players. It’s always very hard to play against this team. We won the Super Bowl, but it was almost the first game of the season. I hope that we will meet again in the final of the Russian Championship. And then it will be very difficult for us, too, but I hope that Dynamo will be able to win.
(Interviewer) – The lack of foreign players in your lineup is a club principle?
– I can not say for sure. But I think the reason is that there were no elite foreigners at the market for us. You can not sign a foreign just to have a foreign. You need a foreign who can decide things on the court. But now it is very difficult to find such a thing.
Individual Awards and Dream Team
MVP – Natalya Mammadova (Dinamo KAZAN)
Best Spiker – Natalia Malykh (Yenisei KRASNOYARSK)
Best Blocker – Anastasia Samoilenko (Dinamo KAZAN)
Best Receiver – Mariia Frolova (Yenisei KRASNOYARSK)
Best Setter – Evgenia Startseva (Dinamo KAZAN)
Best Libero – Ekaterina Ulanova (Dinamo KAZAN)
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