Women’s volleyball usually enjoys passions, but this season it’s just a ball. The final part of the Russian Championship turned from an ordinary event into a real thriller in which Kaliningrad Lokomotiv (last year’s winner) and the famous Uralochka-NTMK from the Sverdlovsk region were killed for gold.
The girls needed all five games to determine the best team of the season. “Uralochka”, still driven by the greats Nikolai KarpolAlthough grandson of head coach Mikhail, last took first place in 2005. After a regular season (5th place in the regular season), the volleyball players switched and knocked out Tulitsa and Dynamo-AkBars in the playoffs.
In the golden series, the Sverdlovites were close to failure, but in the fourth match they gnawed the third set (33:31), and then, playing three game points, they took the fifth set (18:16). This is how Uralochka evened the score (2:2) and ended in Kaliningrad at the last meeting of the season, where she had to decide everything.
The owners of the site began nervously (5:7): they could not cope with the attacks of Uralochka and ace Elizabeth Kotova. Real, Andrey Voronkov didn’t have to take a timeout: the team calmed down after touching the net Alena Kondrashova — 7:7. When Loko opened the block, the opponents began to make mistakes – 9:7. “Will you accept?” – Karpol shouted to one of his volleyball players during a break, but it did not help. Output Ksenia Smirnova in its place Vera Kostyuchik He didn’t decide anything. The quality of finishing of Sverdlovsk women left much to be desired – 10:16. As a result, on the mistakes of their opponents, the Kaliningrad team quickly won the first set at 25:21.
Lokomotiv also played the second match with remarkable ease. Irina Voronkova He threw the guests with aces (6:2, 15:9) and also worked great on the block. “Uralochka” now and then, due to errors on the pitches, gave the railway simple balls and still did not use the block in any way. Cuba Ailama Sese Montalvo Nearing the end, he turned out great (17:21) taking advantage of Loko’s defensive setback, forcing Voronkova to emotionally inform her teammates about it during the timeout. But Sverdlovsk failed to equalize women. Tatyana Ezhak he threw over the block and brought Kaliningrad closer to defending the title – 25:20.
When “Uralochka” cornered herself, she began to let go emotionally. Until the middle of the set, the team was ahead – 13:8. Then Lokomotiv gnawed the even score (16:16) and started. Kaliningrad players lost their concentration, which allowed the opponents to create a three-goal advantage (21:18). Voronkov wanted to act more reliably, but Uralochka’s shuttle was interrupted at the wrong time – 18:22. Then the Sverdlovsk women reached their set point – 24:22. The favorites of the meeting played both (Ksenia Parubets entered the net, and Smirnova was covered with a block), but soon Uralochka won another – 25:24. Not like Lokomotiv did with match points. If Smirnova did not have two aces, the match remained for Karpol’s team – 28:26.
The field continued to fly in Uralochka, and in the fourth set – 5:3. In addition, the guests got a peculiar defense, which brought a lot of interesting long-term draws to the game. At one point Lokomotiv evened the score and even took the lead (11:10), but the lead could not continue. After a series of mistakes by Kaliningrad and Ace, the ball exchange ended. Parubets – 18:15. Voronkov’s team did not win anything back. The leader of the red-greens Voronkova failed in the offensive, and then on the block – at 19:24. Final match turned into tie-break Parubets – 25:20.
The fifth set is almost always a lottery. And not only the most successful, but also the most patient wins. It turned out that she is not related to Uralochka. The bugs are gone from the very beginning. Reception suffered the most. Karpol calmly tried to convey this to her daughters, but it was too late, because the opponents played -12:6. It was impossible to regain the double advantage, so the Sverdlovsk players prepared in advance for defeat. As a result, Lokomotiv, like the men’s Moscow Dynamo, took the title of the best team in the country for the second year in a row – 15:7.
“Uralochka” would like to thank you for this golden series it presented. It was a really good hunt. Our championship hasn’t been this interesting in a long time. Also thanks to Karpol. At the age of 84, he is still in the league, he continues to give us emotional monologues during the breaks and lead the team to the medals. No one in the world can boast of such a guru.
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