Zenit-Kazan vs. Fakel Yamal | HIGHLIGHTS | 25 Round | SuperLeague 2025-2026

After a long journey from Kemerovo to Novosibirsk and then to Orenburg, Zenit-Kazan finally played on their own court.

The first set was very even, and its outcome was largely determined by two blocks from Yuri Romano: the Italian stopped Dmitry Volkov's attacks twice in a row, leading to a 22-20 score. The Yamal team's диагональный стал главным героем партии, набрав 7 очков. However, Volkov's set was not as successful, with four lost offensive balls. The Kazan players tried to win back the set, but they didn't have enough time. Fakel's setter, Maika Ma'a, completed the set with a pass, resulting in a score of 25:22.

After the break, the Kazan players started playing with redoubled energy. Roman Romanovsky caught Romano twice with a block, and Mikhail Labinsky was good in counterattacks – 5:0. By the score of 3:9, the head coach of Fakel, Roman Empolov, had already used both of his time-outs, but the Kazan players were already unstoppable – they increased their lead to +8 (16:8). However, they then slowed down a bit and allowed the opponent to close the gap. At the score of 5:10, Fakel's setter Klim Mozzhukhin suffered a knee injury, and Andrey Kvochko replaced him. The Kazan team neutralized Romano (1/12), and Volkov fully redeemed himself for the first set, scoring 7 points.

Andrey Surmachevsky took Volkov's place for the third set. Two consecutive mistakes in attack by Labinsky and Drazen Luburić (7:9) forced Alexey Verbov to take a timeout and bring Maxim Mikhailov to the diagonal. The legendary Zenit diagonal player scored 5 out of 7 balls and grabbed a set-ball at the end. Fakel, of course, played through Romano. Konstantin Abaev first blocked him in a triple block and then defended against him. Surmachevsky attacked with a second touch and was accurate (25:23).

Fakel's setter Matvey Pipunirov hit a long overhand and immediately failed to cope with Mikhailov's powerful serve, which allowed Kazan to take the lead at 7:4. However, Labinsky was very useful for Zenit both in attack and on serve. He hit Romano, who was preparing for an attack, with his serve, resulting in a 15:9 score. He then blocked the Italian player with a single block.

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