It was an exciting, competitive and nerve-racking game as both teams were on the court fully aware of the importance of this game in Berlin. There is no doubt that Zenit KAZAN and ACH Volley LJUBLJANA both had the same goal: to make it to the Quarter-Finals.

The first half of the first set went point for point as both teams tried to get the edge over each other. Yet Zenit KAZAN took the control over its opponent and won the first set by 25-16 thanks to 4 timely blocks.

Zenit KAZAN and ACH Volley LJUBLJANA both continued to show their skills with some smart play during the second set as well. However, this was a crucial set for ACH Volley LJUBLJANA because the team managed to turn the tables on the Russian club with a passionate comeback. They came back with better attacks and made the score 1-1 thanks to Matic VIDEČNIK’s powerful spikes and Amir Hossein TOUKHTEH’s killer serves.

In the third set, Zenit KAZAN did not let ACH Volley LJUBLJANA start with any easy points. It was an important set for Zenit KAZAN to show its opponent that they would not be overcome that easily. At the end, the results of the third set showed that ACH Volley LJUBLJANA’s performance was not enough to win the set.

Neither of the teams were willing to give in at the beginning of the fourth set. Zenit KAZAN wanted to finish the game whereas ACH Volley LJUBLJANA passionately wanted to hang on to both the set and the match. The final set’s score says it all! 28-26 is a score that reveals how much both team gave their best performances.

Throughout the match, it was an emotional roller-coaster as both teams test each other from the beginning to the end trying to find each other’s weak spots to win the match and reach the Quarter-Finals of Champions League.