Trentino – Zenit Kazan
It was a well deserved victory for an Italian based team who displayed high-quality volleyball during the three sets against a Zenit Kazan side that seemed out of sync for the whole match.
Trentino Diatec out-blocked the opponents 10-1 and also held a 6-3 advantage in the service winners charts.
Jan Stokr was the main scorer of the winners with 19 points, 18 of them with his spikes. Osmany Juantorena finished with three aces and two blocks among his 17 points while Matey Kaziyski and Mitar Tzourits registered 11 and 8 points with Tzourits recording three blocks.
Maxim Mikhaylov had 11 points in the subpar performance of Zenit Kazan.
Matey Kaziyski scored with two spikes and two blocks to guide Trentino Diatec to an 8-5 lead. Junatorena and Stokr increased the gap to 10-5 and Birarelli added one more point with his block. After a missed serve Abrosimov hit an ace to cut the distance to 11-7. Kaziyski continued with his hot-streak and Trentino led 16-9. At 17-9, Zenit Kazan’s coach called for time-out. Stokr planted a parallel shot from the right side and then crashed his serve attempt. Kaziyski served an ace for 20-10 while Sivozhelez attacked form the other side of the net. Stokr was as hot as Kaziyski and scored for 22-11. Stokr attacked from the left side for set-point and Trentino took the first 25-14 when Mikhaylov’s spike sailed long.
Stokr broke an equalized score with a cross-court from the right side for an 8-7 advantage of Trentino. Berezhko tied again with a tip over the Italian team’s wall. With Trentino leading by two at 14-12, Mikhaylov scored an ace but then netted his spike. Kaziyski failed with his serve but Stokr stepped in with a tip for a 16-14 advantage. Mikhaylov landed a formidable spike and Abrosimov followed with an ace to even up things at 16-all. The duel continued with Juantorena and Mikhaylov each scoring twice. Trentino called for time-out at 20-all. Stokr scored after a formidable set from Vieira, Sivozhelez missed with his attack and Tzouritz scored with a block for a 23-20 Trentino’s advantage. Trentino took the set 25-20 when Abrosimov made a mistake with his attack.
In the third set, Tzourits blocked Mikhaylov and Stokr scored with spike and ace for a 5-2 Trentino’s advantage. Mikhaylov and Stokr exchanged kills. Juantorena replied with a laser shot and the Italian based team led 8-4 following a confusion of Zenit’s defense fielding a high ball. When play resumed, Juantorena blocked Mihhaylov and then landed his spike for a 10-4 difference. Sivozhelez scored and Trentino missed an attack. Stokr and Zaziyski landed two more for Trentino which led 16-9 at the second TTO. Trentino team was not willing to stop as Juantorena scored two straight aces for match-point at 24-13. Anderson scored for Zenit Kazan and Kaziyski closed the actions 25-14.
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