Kazan prolong Russian volleyball reign

Zenit Kazan thrashed Dynamo Moscow 3-0 in the final series to claim their fourth Russian volleyball championship title in a row.

The fate of the best-of-five tie was decided in the third game in Russian capital, with Zenit never allowing the hosts to grab a single set, 0-3 (21-25, 17-25, 22-25).Russian international Maksim Mikhailov was top scorer for the winners on the night, with the opposite hitter collecting 21 points. “When a team wins once, one may say it was luck,” Vladimir Alekno, Zenit’s coach, told the R-Sport news agency. “But when they win four times in a row, then we can safely call them the strongest in the country and worthy of success.” “The final series are never easy. But I felt in my guts we were eager to win. Yesterday in training they began playing like it was the final, so I had to stop them. The greater desire to win, that’s what allowed us to win another championship. Today I didn’t see that Dynamo were prepared for a long struggle,” he added. It was Kazan’s fifth overall and fourth straight Russian title, which they add to the CEV Champions League trophy, they also snatched this season.