Two of the projected favorites to win the 2022–23 Russian Men’s Volleyball Cup won’t see the Final Four.
A series of surprises marked the second phase of the 2022–23 Russian Men’s Cup (Кубок России Мужчины).
Some of the main contenders for the final victory are out. In particular, the Final Four on December 24-25 in Novy Urengoy won’t see Dinamo Moscow, the finalist of the last two editions and winner in 2020-21, among the protagonists; the team from the country’s capital was eliminated at the hands of Belogorie in front of own crowd in the decisive match valid for the penultimate round of Pool A: 3-0 (25-17, 26-24, 26-24). Belogorie also won the two remaining matches with Kuzbass and Neftyanik.
In the F4, there won’t even be Zenit Saint Petersburg (with American star Matt Anderson making his debut), who succumbed to the trophy holders, Zenit-Kazan, 1-3 (25-20, 20-25, 21-25, 23-25) at home in Pool V’s penultimate round. Aleksey Verbov’s guys also overtook Gazprom-Yugra and ASK.
The last participant in the final tournament, together with the organizers Fakel, will be Lokomotiv. However, the Novosibirsk side has risked a lot at home court, losing 2-3 to Dinamo-LO in the last round of Pool B. In the event of a three-point defeat, Ural would go through, but the Siberians got a grip at the right moment and tied at 2-2 in sets before losing the tie-break.
2022-23 Russian Men’s Cup – second stage, all results
