Download "Zenit-Kazan vs. Dynamo | HIGHLIGHTS | 16 Round | SuperLeague 2025-2026"

Despite the snowy apocalypse in Kazan, the match between the leaders of the Russian championship attracted a lot of spectator interest, and the five-thousand-seat stands of the Volleyball Center were almost completely filled. In the opening match, Zenit's setter Konstantin Abaev used his glider to find Maxim Sapozhkov in the reception (3:1). Dynamo's диагональный got angry and responded with an ace to Santiago Danani and a series of accurate attacks, forcing Kazan's coach Alexey Verbov to take a timeout at 9:12. The second timeout was necessary at 12:16. After the break, Zenit finally blocked Sapozhkov, and then the forward made a mistake, resulting in a 15:16 score. The long pursuit was completed by Mikhail Labinsky, who came back from the hands of the blockers – 21:21. But then Labinsky hit out twice in a row, and Dmitry Volkov could not cope with Pavel Pankov's powerful serve – 21:25. With a fairly equal game, the Kazan players made more mistakes (9–5) and this was the final difference in the score. At the beginning of the second set, the Kazan players could not break through the Dynamo block. Maxim Mikhailov came to Ilya Vlasov's hands twice, and Sapozhkov stopped Volkov's attack. He also made two consecutive aces, giving the white-and-blue team a two-point advantage – 10:5. The Kazan team could not stabilize their reception – 12:17. However, they gradually regained the lead through their defense. Denis Bogdan struggled in the attack for Dynamo, hitting an out and falling into Volkov's hands on a triple block. Volkov himself scored another breakaway and tied the score at 19:19. The Dynamo players, who had lost their big advantage, became nervous. Sapozhkov and Anton Semyshev attacked into the out, and Zenit took the lead (24:23). The winning point was scored by Volkov, who scored 11 points in the set. During the second set, Nikita Zudin replaced Bogdan in Dynamo, and he remained on the court. In Zenit, Artem Volvich replaced Alexey Kononov, and it was on his captain's serve that Kazan made a decisive push (12:10 - 17:10). Volvich made two aces, Vlasov hit an out, and Zudin was blocked. Dynamo coach Konstantin Bryansky brought Bogdan back to the court and made a double substitution, bringing in Konstantin Tyushkevich and Nazar Litvinenko. However, this did not help, as the Kazan players had already gained momentum. Drazen Luburić made an ace, and at 10:9, he replaced Mikhailov, leading to a 19:13 score. Dynamo tried to correct the situation with their serves, but their risk led to nine errors per set. In the fourth set, the ball literally fell out of the hands of the Dynamo players. However, after the break, they returned to their usual combination and began to demonstrate their power once again. Two blocks by Vlasov and another ace by Sapozhkov allowed Dynamo to gain an advantage of 8:5. The Moscow team did not lose any balls in the attack, while the Kazan team made occasional mistakes, making it difficult for them to catch up. The hero of the final set was Dynamo's setter, Bogdan, who completed three consecutive attacks, leading to a victory of 25:23. The Kazan players started the shortened set magnificently – 3:0 after Konstantin Abaev's single block on Semishev. Later, Bogdan caught Volkov's serve that was flying into the outfield, and Labinsky distinguished himself in a counterattack – 7:2. The more the Dinamo players wanted to come back, the faster their deficit grew: Zhuk hit the net, and Sapozhkov got blocked – 10:3 in favor of Kazan. Zenit calmly finished the match to victory and retained their lead in the championship. VFV - https://volley.ru/