Throwing the ball, branded short run, easy pause - and the volleyball projectile after serving Semyon Poltavsky safely passes the receiving enemy and falls exactly nine meters on the opposite side of the court. The Odintsovo score reluctantly highlights the final score of the decisive game of the semifinal match of the local Iskra with Dynamo Moscow - 10:15. A sly smile of excellence appears on the diagonal face. A day later, the episode will be repeated to the smallest detail, only a smile will be replaced by glee and will soon drown in champagne and universal Dynamo joy.
“Final Four” - the competition is extremely spectacular and exciting. For two days, the country's best volleyball clubs in full-time battles play an honorary trophy and no less honorable ticket to the Champions League. This season, due to the bad memory of the World Cup, has been displaced and tampered with, so the 2006 Cup has gained its owner just now. The easy paradox did not bother anyone - in the brand new Odintsovo volleyball center-beauty, things were found and more entertaining.
On Monday, the Novy Urengoy Fakel and then the owner of the Lokomotiv-Belogorye trophy were the first to enter the venue. This season, a completely different team is playing under the guise of the Belgorod club. Renovated by two-thirds, Lokomotiv is only taking its first steps in elite volleyball, although at first it seemed that Gennady Shipulin had performed a miracle - the new Belgorod at the start was so bright, energetic and powerful. However, over the course of the season, the fuse slowly began to fade, the team stumbled and reached the “Final Four” not in the best condition.
The “torch" took advantage of this exemplarily. Boris Kolchins Club is staffed with players experienced to the elders, behind almost every one of whom there is a high-profile international title. Fakel confidently held the match (Lokomotiv managed only two aces - an anti-record of the season), left Belgorod without a first pace and reliably blocked the edges of the grid with a block. A brilliant match was held by the diagonal Roman Yakovlev, but his opponent Sergey Baranov failed the game. Searches of the opponent in the nervous ending of the first game, the Novy Urengoys calmly allowed Lokomotiv to lose the remaining two and turned their attention to the duel of potential rivals.
With all due respect to the “Torch” and “Belogorye”, the semifinal between “Iskra” and “Dynamo” was considered as an early final. The hosts approached the “Final Four” in optimal form - Sergei Tsvetnov at the most crucial moment brought the team to the second peak of the season. Dynamo is simply the best club in the country today - both in terms of teamwork, and in the level of performers, and in tactical readiness. While Iskra was just rolling into the game, Muscovites have already taken the first set. Odintsovo tried to play fast, “Brazilian” volleyball from both ends of the net, but Dynamo crushed the hosts with a block, tightly closing 9 attacks of Beketov, Abramov and Khtei.
During the meeting, Iskra managed to adjust its tactical plan, and the game leveled off. In the end of the second game, the Muscovites had two set goals, but Pavel Abramov restored parity in the match with three powerful innings - 1: 1. Then the teams exchanged parties - Dynamo went to the third, and to Odintsovo - the fourth. At some point, Iskra caught the corporate game and simply crushed the opponent. The binder Roman Arkhipov contributed to this, having exchanged Oleg Samsonychev at the end of the third installment. Nothing seemed to stop the hosts. However, in the decisive set Dynamo made a breakthrough on the serve of Matey Kaziysky, the Iskra captain Mikhail Beketov was mistaken twice - and the job was done. Once again, the experience and higher individual skills of Muscovites affected.
Unlike the second semi-final, the final was hardly shocked by anyone's imagination. It seems that the “Torch” itself did not really believe in its victory. To say that in the first game the game was one-goal, does not allow only their absence in volleyball. The Novy Urengoys Yakovlev and Saveliev reliably ran into the Dynamo bloc, and Kolchins and Ushakov found other arguments only after a pause between the sets. The “torch” led 22:20, but could not hold the advantage - got nervous. Two unsuccessful tricks of the specially issued Dmitry Mikhailov, two smeared attacks by Chernich - 23:25 and 0: 2. The third set turned out to be unique in some way - until the 24:24 count, the rivals had never come off each other more than by a point. Everything was decided by the ACP of Poltava, the first in the match. “We are the champions!” The Dynamo part of the stands chanted, while Vladimir Alekno and sparkling champagne flew into the air.
Dynamo won the Russian Cup for the first time, adding this award to the title of champion of the country. Nobody plays volleyball better in Russia now: the psychology of the winners, the effective and efficient two-tempo attack, the impenetrable monolithic block, the furious delivery and the increasingly successfully concealed weaknesses in defense - this is Dynamo Moscow today. Ahead of the white and blue Final Four of the Champions League in Moscow. But it is entirely possible that they will fight for this trophy under the guidance of another coach. Now Vladimir Alekno is the main favorite for the vacant seat of the Russian national team coach - proved by the Cup. We can see how clearly the volleyball officials saw in the image of the jubilant Dynamo our national team for the Beijing Olympics on March 1.