Zenit SPB vs. Ural | HIGHLIGHTS | Round 28 | Pari SuperLeague 2024

At the end of the regular season, Ural is obliged to play to win every match, regardless of the opponent's status, in order to preserve the chances of getting into the playoffs. The Ufa team demonstrated the seriousness of their claims back in the 27th round, defeating Lokomotiv. Well, on March 8 in St. Petersburg, the guests successfully started the game against Zenit. By the score of 12:16 Sergio Buzato landed Evgeny Sivozhelez, who had problems with both attack and reception. Tikhonov came out instead. At the end of the set, Peter could get his opponent, but all questions were actually answered by Rybakov, who scored a break ball after his own excellent serve – 19:22. Well, after Babkevich's mistake in attack, Zenit had no chance left – Ural led 1-0.
Yakovlev allowed the hosts to start the second game successfully, scoring the first tempo, and immediately made an ace – 2:0. But Ufa neutralized the opponent's advantage with a break quickly: Sivozhelez got under the block, who had not implemented any of the five attacks by that moment. The next time, the hosts managed to create a small gap in the middle of the set, when Babkevich first scored in the final game, and then put a block – 14:11. But this handicap evaporated instantly. And then Ural made a breakthrough that decided the fate of the second set – 20:16. During this period, which was certainly positive for Ufa, Kovacevich proved himself well, scoring a couple of important goals, and the guests completely blocked Voronkov's oxygen, twice covering him in the fourth zone. As a result, Fedor watched the game from the spare square, and the hosts conceded the end of the set – 25:21.
This arrangement clearly inspired the guests, and Peter found himself in a state of severe knockdown – 5:1 after Ace Gutsalyuk at the start of the third game. But later, the hosts, overcoming themselves, still managed to get back into the game - with the score at 13:12, Igor Shulepov had to use a timeout, and then, closer to the end, take the second one. In this game, Zenit finally managed to move Ushkov away from the net, who for a long time conducted the game of his forwards in the most comfortable conditions. Suffice it to say that the sky-high level of attack implementation above 60% was maintained by Ural from the beginning of the match right up to the middle of the third set. But at the end of this segment, the Ufa hosts were tested for strength first by Babkevich, and then by Tikhonov. Timofey, in principle, turned out to be the hero of the moment, because, in addition to a solid serve, he also had several goals scored. Balancing on the edge of the abyss, Peter still resisted and won the set on character – 25:22.
Ural ran into Zenit's comeback, but the return was by no means easy, because, firstly, the guests did not scatter, and secondly, the hosts did not demonstrate the playing tone that allows them to dominate. For example, Tikhonov, who performed spectacularly at the end of the third set, made two consecutive mistakes in attack here at the moment. In a battle of nerves, where both sides have equal chances, plus or minus, individual episodes that give a psychological advantage can solve a lot. Such a moment can be safely considered the draw in the fourth game at the score of 19:18, which was taken by Peter (this draw is just worth reviewing if you haven't seen it). Zenit was stronger in the difficult end of the set (25:23) and moved the game to a tie-break.
The hosts failed to start the final game – 2:6, 4:8, which, of course, made Ural the favorite for the end of the match, since such an advantage is a very weighty argument for a shortened set. However, this high-quality match, which exhausted the nerves of both sides, could not end in any banal way: Zenit got the opponent by the score of 10:10 after two successful blocks. In the end, it was the hosts who had the last word: ace Sivozheleza, Yakovlev's double block with Kovalev and 17:15.
This match will not go down in the history of volleyball as the most high-quality and beautiful (definitely not), but there were so many emotions and drive in it that the aftertaste will definitely stay with us for a few days.

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