In the rivalry between PGE Skra Bełchatów and Zenit Kazań, Polish team turned out to be better winning the away match with ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle 3:0. The Russian team won the home match against Dynamo Krasnodar 3:1(25:21, 25:20, 20:25, 25:23), classified 8th in the Superliga ranking. After the two won matches, the host team had some troubles. PGE Skra and Zenit will meet each other in the 2nd Playoff round of the Champions League.
- Zenit Kazań is a top level team. It presents a completely different style of the game than the one presented by Knack Randstad Roeselare. The Russian power combined with the American mentality gives a super mixture. We are expecting a tough match, medium game will not defeat them, therefore we have to use maximum of our skills. I believe, we are also being considered a difficult rival for our opponents. Let’s make great spectacles of these games, because they are supposed to be like this – said Jacek Nawrocki, the coach of PGE Skra, right after elimination of the Roeselare players. As we recall, in Łódź the Champions of Poland had to win both a revenge and a gold set.
During the match with Dynamo, Zenit was playing in the following composition: Ball (3 points), Michajłow (21), Abrosimow (7), Apalikow (8), Priddy (10), Pantielejmonienko (14), Babiczew (l) oraz Czeremisin, Tietiuchin. – In the 3rd set we stopped making mistakes and immediately the match became more balanced. Our mistakes had impact on the development of the game - said Konstantin Uszakow, Dynamo’s captain, after the match. The coach Władimir Alekno praised Władysław Babiczew, a libero player.
