RUS M: Zenit Kazan to host Belogorie Belgorod (PREVIEW, ODDS)

Leon & Muserskiy

Zenit Kazan have 3-0 score so far in domestic league, without losing a set. The team of Vladimir Alekno have defeated Dinamo Moscow, Ural Ufa and Neftyanik Orenburg.

The situation is a little bit different when we talk about the score of Belogorie Belgorod. They recorded two defeats at the start of the season in Super League. Nova and Fakel Noviy Urengoy were the teams that beat Belogorie in the first two rounds. In the third round, Belogorie managed to score a victory. They downed Kuzbass Kemerevo in four sets. Recall that all matches Muserskiy & co. played away…

We must add that Belogorie have scored three consecutive victories in Russian National Cup, after scoring the first win in Russian championship. That means that they will play in Kazan after four wins in a row. 

HEAD TO HEAD: If we take a look at the past meetings of these two volleyball teams in the previous season, we will see a domination of one team – Zenit Kazan. They met each other in the last season nine times. You probably don’t know that team from Kazan won seven games, while the team from Belgorod had only two victories. Belogorie were much more dominant in season 2014/2015, when they outscored their big rival in four out of five games. Recall that in the last three matches, Belogorie didn’t manage even to take a set against Zenit Kazan.

TEAM COMPARISATION: Zenit Kazan had minor changes in their team roster if we compare this season with the last season. The key volleyball players such as Wilfredo Leon, Matt Anderson, Maxim Mikhailov, Alexander Butko etc have decided to stay in the team. They signed Krotkov (Samotlor), Volvich (Novosibirsk), Zemchenok (Novosibirsk and Melynik (Krasnodar), while these volleyball players left the team: Spiridonov (Yenisei), Kuleshov, Poletaev (Kuzbass – loan), Bagrey (Belogorie) and Apalikov (Kuzbass).

Belogorie Belgorod have made a lot of changes for the season 2016/2017. It is important to say that they managed to keep two main volleyball stars: Dmitry Muserskiy and Sergey Tetyukhin. These players left the club: Kosarev (retires), Ivovic (Resovia), Krasikov (Dinamo Leningradskaya Oblast), Khanipov (Ural), Antipkin (Dinamo Moscow), Lesik (Al Zahra), Bragin (Dinamo Moscow), Khamuttskikh (retires), Grozer (Shanghai) and Safonov (Arcada). But, Belogorie staff have decided to sign these volleyball players: Zhigalov (Kuzbass – from loan), Iereshchenko (Samotlor), Bagrey (Zenit), Podlesnykh (Samotlor), Poroshin (Tehnolog), Dragunov (Dinamo Leningradskaya Oblast), Fomenko (Samotlor) and Teremenko (Kharkiv).

WoV PREDICTION: Every other outcome except Zenit’s win would be a huge surprise. The worldwide bookmakers have set 1,05 odd on the victory of the Vladimir Aleknos’s team. But, there are more interesting betting games, when we talk about this match. For Zenit’s 3-0 win, some bookmakers set 1.65 odd. Take a look at the Volleyball Betting Odds!

The game is scheduled for Wednesday in Kazan at 18:00 (CET).

REGULAR SEASON / – / 4TH ROUND

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