Unlike the regular season, which was full of surprises, surprises and other oddities this year, the final part of the playoffs was very predictable. Teams, albeit not meekly, lined up in the tournament grid in accordance with the status and current capabilities. So far, only the king’s place has been vacant - from the first of May Thursday the Moscow Dynamo and Dynamo-Tattransgaz from Kazan will begin to measure the validity of their claims to it. This will be the apogee of the season - both in terms of emotions, intrigue, and volleyball level, which is unlikely to yield to the recent “Final Four” of the Champions League. However, even before the decisive confrontation in the playoffs, there was something to pay attention to.
Scandal
The quarter-final series between Surgut ZSK-Gazprom and Novy Urengoy Fakel was initially the most acute and nervous confrontation at this stage of the tournament. Passions in the “gas derby” got out of control by the end of the first match in Surgut. The head coach of the hosts Rafael Khabibullin was removed from the site (and then disqualified) for the push of the captain of the Fakel Konstantin Ushakov - an unprecedented situation. However, not everything in that episode was unambiguous. The Novy Urengoy’s binder has an outstanding track record, but not a crystalline reputation, and therefore Khabibullin’s statements about the provocation can be not unfounded. The next day, composure finally left the KSK coach - he again received a red card, this time for impolite treatment of the referees and the match inspector.
Later, on the air of one of the local television companies, Khabibullin made his vision of scandalous episodes and the general situation in the Russian club volleyball, outlining where in hints, and where in plain text, the conspiracy theory is very popular among fans of some teams. The general meaning is that supposedly in the domestic volleyball there is a kind of “pool” of three clubs - Dynamo (Moscow), Dynamo Yantar (Kaliningrad) and Fakel, which is protected by the federation. Examples of his “activity” are the Yantar match with the “Oilman of Bashkortostan” that ended in a judicial scandal, the strange meeting of the last round between Kaliningraders and Novo-Urengoyans and the unusually stable uncertain game of Fakel and the capital Dynamo.
It is difficult to say whether this theory is solely an excuse for loser coaches or something like that really exists. In any case, in the future this situation will one way or another develop, but in the meantime, it is most reasonable to leave aside speculation and focus on real volleyball itself.
Super series
The semi-final confrontation of the Odintsovo Iskra and Kazan Dynamo TTG turned out to be epic. Viewers saw the complex-setting (here certainly without conspiracy theories) action in five acts with reincarnations. The first two games in the suburbs did not portend any special drama - Dynamo were significantly stronger than their opponents and won twice without any special adventures. Iskra could not find arguments against the monolithic Kazan bloc and was not very ready for the pace volleyball proposed by the American Dynamo-TTG binder Lloy Ball.
It seemed that the series would end in the first Kazan match. However, there was a real reincarnation of teams in each other. There is a logical explanation for this - Ball injury. With Vadim of the Hamutsky Dynamo lost first teamwork, then the pace and confidence. Iskra suddenly felt a surge of strength and in one breath leveled off the position in the series, winning the third and fourth matches with the same score as losing the first two.
Confused completely, the confrontation returned to Odintsovo. And again, the guests celebrated success. Help for Kazan was the return of Ball and his compatriot Stanley - for the first time this season, Viktor Sidelnikov set the optimal composition. Odintsovo at a decisive moment again ruined the poverty of the bench and tactical options. As a result, a series of five matches, unique in world volleyball, in which only guests won and at the same time it never came to a tie-break, remained with Dynamo TTG.
The team of Sergey Tsvetnov is now waiting for the fight for third place. If successful, this season will go down in the history of Iskra cast in bronze - Moscow volleyball players remained the third in the Russian Cup and the European Top Team Cup. Well, Kazan will have the final battle with teammates from Moscow.
Finalists
The championship’s gold medals will be played by the Moscow Dynamo and Dynamo-Tattransgaz from Kazan. However, this time the finale will not do without the classic Moscow-Belgorod motifs - among current wards of Viktor Sidelnikov, three (Tetyukhin, Kosarev and Khamutsky) last season in the decisive matches fought for Lokomotiv-Belogorye. And, of course, no final of the Russian Super League can do without Andrei Egorchev. The central blocking Kazan can set a fantastic achievement - to become the country's champion with the fourth club in a row. Earlier there were the same Moscow Dynamo and Belogorye, as well as the Yekaterinburg Emerald.
Dynamo (Moscow)
The path to the finale. It was not dotted with roses, but it cannot be called extremely difficult. In the quarterfinals, Muscovites faced fierce resistance from the Yekaterinburg Lokomotiv and almost lost their first home game. Then everything went easier, and the series was expected to end in three matches. In the semifinals, Dynamo met the Fakel, won very easily in two home games, in Novy Urengoy they still allowed Boris Kolchins's wards to win (for the first time in history, in 10 meetings), but this was limited to 3-1 in the series without extra effort.
Strengths Dynamo trump cards are well known throughout Europe - a well-played young roster, a long bench, a killer power feed of Poltavsky and Kaziiski, an excellent block, and well-coordinated interaction with the players of the first pace. Also important in the final series is the Dynamo advantage of their platform, on which they have not lost a single time during the whole season. In addition, the wards of Vladimir Alekno, who is finishing work with the club, already have a ticket to the Champions League, relieving them of additional psychological pressure.
Weak sides. And the shortcomings of Dynamo, too, have long been studied by everyone. The imperfect reception as a payment for the ultra-attacking orientation of the gamers remains, despite the efforts of the libero Theodor Salparov, the main game problem of Muscovites. Another minus is the lack of experience “for all occasions”: the flip side of youth, which is especially relevant for connecting Sergey Grankin. That is what has become the main reason for the recent European failure of Dynamo. However, in the domestic arena, no one has long been able to use the theoretical weaknesses of the current champion and winner of the Cup of the country.
Composition. Kaziyski, Korneev (Berezhko) - Kuleshov, Volkov (Ostapenko) - Grankin (Makarov), Poltava (Kruglov) - Salparov.
Dynamo Tattransgaz (Kazan)
The path to the finale. In the first round of the playoffs, Kazan, without any problems and moral torment, sorted out Belogorye, giving the donor club only one game in three matches. The circumstances of the victory over the Odintsovo Iskra are described a little higher.
Strengths The colossal experience of each of Dynamo-TTG players individually is a huge help in decisive fights. Kazan came to the final matches with full ammunition. Viktor Sidelnikov can fully count on the genius of Sergei Tetyukhin, the tactical wisdom of Lloy Ball, who found mutual understanding with partners, wall-breaking attacks and the filing of the diagonal Clayton Stanley, who returned to normal, Alexander Kosarev’s universalism and Alexey Bovdui’s unique universalism, which can immediately close three positions. In many ways, the outcome of the final will be determined by the confrontation between Poltava and Stanley, players of about the same class and very similar in terms of playing characteristics. The advantage of the Kazan American is in experience and stability, the disadvantage is in physical form that is not optimal after the injury. Much depends on how much Lloy Ball has recovered, which is superior in skill to his colleague Grankin. Well, Kazan is perhaps the only team in Europe that is not inferior to Muscovites in the length of the bench. If the series drags on, it is this factor that may become decisive.
Weak sides. There is one weak spot in the Dynamo-TTG star cast - the libero position. The whole season in this role was spent by Konstantin Sidenko, but his game is far from modern world standards. In the decisive match with Iskra, a free defender was played by Igor Shulepov, but this is rather a necessary measure. There is also Vladislav Babichev and the same Alexey Bovduy, but such radical changes are not the best way out of the situation at such a crucial moment. Due to problems with the libero, Dynamo TTG may lose its strategic advantage in admission. Another headache of Viktor Sidelnikov is the physical condition of the team - in protracted matches he will have to resort to substitutions more often than Alekno in the hope of saving the leaders. In the event of a Kazan defeat, another coach will probably solve Dynamo puzzles next season.
Composition. Tetyukhin (Bovduy), Kosarev (Shulepov) - Bogomolov, Egorchev - Ball (Khamutsky), Stanley (Bovduy) - Sidenko (Shulepov, Babichev, Bovduy).