With the Russian men’s Superleague’s regular season wrapped up, the Playoff schedule has been set with the first round matches set to begin on April 20.
Two teams automatically advance to the Final Six of the competition – Zenit Kazan and second-ranked Dinamo Moscow. This season, Zenit finished with an unblemished record of 26-0 after a 3-2, (25-23, 24-26, 25-15, 20-25, 15-7) victory over Neftyanik. With the teams regular starters resting on the bench in the match, Zenit was led by Matt Anderson who put down 19 points while Denis Zemchenok added another 15. Zenit accumulated a total of 17 aces in the match, with seven coming from Zemchenok alone.
The defending champions Zenit are looking to come out on top again this season, but is up for grabs by anyone.
With the two top teams in the league already advancing, the next eight teams were selected to face each other to determine the Final Six teams left in the competition.
The best-of-three qualifier matches are:
- Lokomotiv Novosibirsk (3) vs. Nova Novokuybyshevsk (10)
- Belogorie Belgorod (4) vs. Yenisei Krasnoyarsk (9)
- Kuzbass Kemerovo (5) vs. Gazprom-Yugra Surgut (8)
- Falek Novy Urengoy (6) vs. Ural Ufa (7)
The winners from each of the match-ups will move onto the final leg of the Russian Superleague Playoffs.
The first qualifier round to the Final Six will begin on April 20 with the second taking place on April 23. with the Final Six taking place from May 5-11.
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