betprepare.com

Zenit announced intention to win

Macerata started the season by losing to Trentino, and made no impression aginst Molfetta, but made many errors. Zenit in full steam after 11 rounds of national championship on an away match against Italians where the season has just started

The by far the most impressive match in the first round of the Championship league is the one between Macerata from Italy and Zenit from Kazan. Macerata have, in the last years´ international competition, lost Playoff  6, in a tie breaking set, to their compatriots Cune,  while Zenit got in to the final four, but were sent home by that year’s winners of the title, Novosibirsk. They were in the end respectable third, after beating Kozle.

Both teams were somewhat altered, Macerata lost their setter Travica, and receiver Savani, while Zenit started out the new season without the middle blockers Lee and Abrosimov, and the setter Vermiglio, who is to be replaced by Zygadlo, who is currently injured and will not recuperate until the end of the season, and will be substituted by legendary Nikola Grbic who was brought in from Cune. They had several more acquisitions and there is no doubt that the coach Vladimir Alekno will again this year set his team well.

- Our group is one of the toughest in the competition, and starting out by winning is all important. Zenit are one of the best teams in Europe, and the match will be tough.  I am convinced that we can go a long way this year´s Championship League- Kurek, Macerata´s new receiver, said.

Macerata could have wished for a better season onset, they lost in the Supercup to the diminished Trentino without a won set. It was set aside after they beat Molfetta. After the first set which Macerata barely won 25-23, they woke up and were the better team for the rest of the match and deservedly won. Molfetta was just a preparatory match for the showdown with the Russian team who are amongst the Championship League favorites.

As per usual the best scoring player was Zaytsev with 13 points, while Kurek with 12 and Podrascanin with 11 were also good. As was the case in the Supercup against Molfetta they again made many mistakes, with 22 errors, and their service could do with some improvement since they are losing points on it.

Zenit started their season early and now have 12 matches played. Apart from the last Supercup match all the rest were in the Russian Cup. The Supercup match they lost after taking the lead in 2-0 in sets (25-21, 25-21, 23-25, 23-25, 13-15).

Alekno sent the setter Grbic, opposite Mikhailov (28 points) ,and the receivers Sivohelez (14 points ),and Anderson(19 points), the middle blockers Apalikov and Volkov, in to the fray while Verbov was the libero. This setup is to be expected against Macerata, and it doesn’t take an expert to see how powerful the Russian team is. What´s more, Zenit are in mid-season, and in full steam, while Maceata played only two matches against teams not even close to Zenit. 

Zenit played marvelously in the last seasons´ Group stage, without losing a single set, but Roeslare, Friedrichshafen and Innsbruck are not as good as Macerata, while Posojilnica are a class beneath.

As was confirmed by the middle blocker Abrosimov:

- Our group was much easier last year, now we are up against the title holders Novosibirsk, and Macerata, a very good team  - he went on:

- I will not give any forecasts as to the match, but we are on a roll and we go for a win in each match. Zygadlo not playing does not change that, we are ready to win. This team has been together for a while now, we have a lot of matches behind us and all players who were with the national team are rested and all are ready-

Losing in the Supercup after 2-0 in the lead was painfull:

- We are very angry with ourselves for losing a won match, but that made us work even harder and we see the away match in Italy as a chance to redeem ourselves.

Zenit are arriving to Macerata fully prepared for the competition, and that is extremely important for this bet at the moment. They've played 11 games in the Russian Cup, and the last one was vs Belgorod in the Supercup. They held a two set advantage only to lose the next three. Macerata and Zenit both have a new setter, but it is obvious that Baranowicz is taking much longer to adjust to Macerata than the legendary Grbic to Zenit. The Italians are still making many mistakes, especially on the serve, and Zenit do not forgive such errors. They largely depend on Zaytsev and Kurek, and if one of those is shut down, Macerata will be in big trouble. The Russians have four players who won the gold in the recent European Championship against the very Italians (Apalikov, Sivozhelez, Verbov, Mikhailov). There are also players who contributed to winning the World League; Kazakov, Volkov, Kobzar, Abrosimov, and if we add the American national team member Anderson to those, it becomes quite clear how powerful this team is. They are a much bigger favorite than the odds tell.