Am I the only one who thinks Isaeva could contribute more than Malykh? Sure Malykh is a very good player, but I've always though she is very set-dependent and in the double substitution I had the impression that she hasn't been that efficient. Isaeva might not be that spectacular but she is a very solid player without many ups and downs, this summer she has done a great job in B team and now in Kazan as replacement for Gamova she did very well too...
Ilchenko hasn't been playing well in Uralochka lately, so Russia might really get an OH problem. Kosheleva and Scherban should do fine as starters, but Pasynkova barely gets to play in Krasnodar and Ilchenko isn't doing well....
I dont agree with you regarding the Isaeva/Malykh case, for me Malykh untill this season has been very raw and lacked the necessary variation aspect in her box, but as this season progressed I think she finally transformed and emerged into a more well-polished, versatile attacker able to mix her attacks up by carrying a wider range of approaches as using the hands to achieve block-outs and touches over the block on a more regular basis. For me, this pattern was highly recognizable in the final of Russian Cup some days ago where she found creative ways to kill the ball many times in precarious situations other than her initial characteristic hallmark to go for broke with power. Also, in the game against Krasnoyarsk some time ago I remember Krasnodar collapsed bigtime in reception which was putting the attackers under pressure basically all the time, but Malykh handled the load tremendously, tangled herself out of it by scoring so many times using the hands of the block almost Sokolova-like back in the days when she was the untouchable queen in that regard.