Russia - Суперлига 2014/15

There will be 5-6 place games.

Uralochka did well to come back from 2 sets down to defeat Krasnodar. They have confidence as they are playing in Challenge Cup. Krasnodar, has to play better.

i thought in the beggining that Krasnodar would dominate the russian league but seems not that way so far..good for Uralocka..

Zarechie defeated Omsk, but with the way Omsk has been playing the last few games, it isn't much of a surprise. I saw Babeshina, but I don't remember if she started, she was in the 3rd set though. Omsk form is like Lokomotive the last few games. Hopefully they can turn it around.

And Omichka is out!! After losing the first match 3:1 they won the second quaterfinal game easily 3:0 and then lost the golden set 11:15 with a terrible game. Zarieche will play in the semifinals!

Now I'm eagerily waiting for the game between Krasnodar and Uralochka. In the first match both Uralochka's middles were totally awesome - they got 64 (!!!) balls in 5 sets and each of them scored 18 points in attack Zaryazko also had 4 blocks and Jack 2, so they made a total of 42 points. Hope to see that today too.

Krasnodar is way too dependent on Kosheleva. As long as she scores they win, as soon as she stops they have no chance. Lyuba and Garay don't contribute much and the middles can't be used with such reception...

Quote from Matthias

Krasnodar is way too dependent on Kosheleva. As long as she scores they win, as soon as she stops they have no chance. Lyuba and Garay don't contribute much and the middles can't be used with such reception...

Hence why they should take out Garay and play Calderon at OPP and play Kosheleva in Garay's spot. Calderon at least contributes to attack. Krasnodar, if they win, have to step up their game in the semi finals because right now they are ordinary.

On the other hand Kosheleva will be far less efficient if she has to receive because then all serves will go her way...

Quote from Matthias

On the other hand Kosheleva will be far less efficient if she has to receive because then all serves will go her way...

She handles it in the NT, she should be able to handle it for Krasnodar. It will also help her to practice receiving, because she needs to. She should have been doing that with Krasnodar, because her position in NT means she receives a lot of the serves.

Too bad for Omsk, they played a great game. then in the Golden set, they started so poorly, and at one point was down 11-4, too bad they couldn't finish it off.

Edit: Uralochka NTMKwins!!!! Krasnodar out! Great game!

Kseniia Ilchenko is a monster. Only 20 years!

She is the new Sokolova! Reception, atacker, blocker, defense... so complete.

Krasnodar, for all their stars were ordinary. As someone said, too much dependency on Kosheleva and the setter was easy to read at times.

So for the semifinals

Dinamo Moscow will play Uralochka and Zarechie will play Kazan (although Kazan plays their last quarterfinal match on the 22nd, it is safe to assume they will win).

Unfortunately I missed Golden Set, but glad to hear that Uralochka made it. Kosheleva is the only really good player in Krasnodar, everyone else is average. In the tie-break of the regular match, once again like so many times in her career Lyuba lost track of reception when it counted. It totally reminded me of 2004 Olympic final when Russia was close to victory and China then turned the set with some good serves on her...

Quote from Matthias

It totally reminded me of 2004 Olympic final when Russia was close to victory and China then turned the set with some good serves on her...

Also in the quarter finals of 2012 against Brazil when she also failed badly in reception at the end of the match...
By the way, today during the golden set she was replaced by Pasynkova because she was once again really bad in reception

So Omichka is out of european cups, isn't it?

Dinamo Krasnodar in Challenge Cup, right?