Zenit KAZAN overpower BERLIN for a quarterfinal spot

Record-champions Zenit KAZAN have qualified for the quarterfinals of the 2021 campaign. At their home stadium they beat BERLIN Recycling Volleys in straight sets, as they did in Germany in the first tournament. With their third victory and the two forfeits of JASTRZEBSKI Wegiel, KAZAN now have five wins to their name and are certain of winning Pool C. This was the last match of BERLIN in Round 4, they will have to wait and see if their 12 points from four wins will be enough to book them a spot in the quarterfinal as well.

From the start of the match there was no doubt as to which team was best wednesday in Russia. Led by Earvin Ngapeth KAZAN were quick to take a defining lead. From 7-7 they sped up to 10-15 and that was it for set 1. Earvin Ngapeth showed his cunningness in attack, playing with the BERLIN block. The first set went the way of KAZAN with 25-18.

Blocking was on point for the Russian team as well, both Artem Volvich (who played his 200th match for Zenit) and Alexander Volkov had two important stuffs in the first two sets. BERLIN setter Sergey Grankin only had his oppositie Benjamin Patch to go to for points. KAZAN won the second set 25-16.

In the third BERLIN head coach Cedric Enard mixed it up for his team, hoping they could force a breakthrough against the home team. But to no avail, KAZAN had Bartosz Bednorz who hit three aces in the final set. The final set was 25-14, KAZAN are quarterfinallists once more.

Quotes

Headcoach Cedric Enard of BERLIN Recycling Volleys: “I am disappointed. Of course, Kazan played and served well, but we did not fight as we are able to. We know about the strength of Kazan, but against such an opponent you have to be active and search for your opportunities. We did not play this match like we were supposed to play.”

Julian Zenger, libero for BERLIN Recycling Volleys: “Kazan played very consistently and put really big pressure on serving. It was very difficult for us. The head may still go down a bit too early, which is why we missed our possibilities. It's a pity, but now we hope that we can get a ticket for the quarterfinals anyway.”

• Earvin Ngapeth was top scorer of the match with 15 points

• Benjamin Patch of BERLIN was awarded as the MVP, scoring 14 points in attack at 52%

• This was the tenth meeting between these teams in the Champions League, Zenit have won all of those matches