Russia - Superleague 2022/2023

    New season starts next friday.


    Most teams look quite different this season. Almost all teams have three or more new starting players (Moscow only two if Pipunyrova starts). Loko, Moscow and Kazan as usual among the favourites. Uralochka is unlikely to go as far as they did last season.


    Kaliningrad: New coach (first time women). A lot of quality players. Probably the best subs.


    Uralochka: No Parubets, no foreigners. Reception did not look good in cup.


    Moscow: Natalia Pereira and Podkopaeva are back. Thanks to them the reception should be better than last season. Should be the main opponent for Loko.


    Kazan: They seem to have to many players... Again three setters (I guess nobody wanted Lazareva)... I hope they loan out Kostina or Zamanskaia when Ezhak is joining them. Will probably need some time to find the right team.


    Tulitsa: New MB's. Byarda is the only OPP which is a bit worrying. They should be quite competitive.


    Proton: Malykh, Bobrova and Gatina joined. As usual almost no subs. They should be quite good if everyone stays healthy.


    Leningradka: Drca, Mihajlovic, Gorbunova, Chernova and Perova joined. They have to be successful with this team. I will blame the coach if they fail...


    Krasnodar: A lot of new players. Don't like the setters. OPP does not look great. Happy to see Shepeleva in Superleague.


    Dinamo Metar: Several new players. Should have enough experienced player to do pretty ok. Happy that Olga Efimova (setter) is back in Superleague.


    Enisey: Will be interesting to see what Perepelkina can do with this team. On paper not that strong but had a good start in the cup.


    Lipetsk: Some very experienced and some very young players (16 year old Pavlova on loan from Kazan). Were disappointing the last few seasons. Hopefully the can do better this season. Setters should be better then last season.


    Minchanka: New young setters and very experienced OH. Hopefully stronger than last season.


    Sparta: Not sure about the OH (don't know the new ones). Reception probably still a problem.


    Zarechie: A lot of young players as usual but a bit more experience then in previous seasons. Have the potential to do better than last season.

    Russian Cup was played last weekend. Lokomotiv, Moscow (won all games including a 3:0 against Kazan) and Dinamo-Metar (won 3:0 against Proton which had 7 Pts. too) qualified for the finals.


    Finals in Tula will be played December 17./18.


    Semis: Dinamo-Metar vs. Moscow, Tulitsa-Lokomotiv


    Loko hadn't the best start in the league (0:3 against Kazan, 2:3 Moscow). Kazan had a very surprising 1:3 against Sparta at home (Spartas only victory in the first five games...).

    Does anyone have the stats of the Leningradka-Dynamo Moscow match?

    Quote from Madden54

    How has Brankica been doing ?

    She's playing both opposite and outside hitter positions and she's doing OK although in some games she underperforms. IMO, Leningradka could get medals this season and that'll be great because they'll probably get a bigger budget in the next season.

    Quote from Husky123

    She's playing both opposite and outside hitter positions and she's doing OK although in some games she underperforms. IMO, Leningradka could get medals this season and that'll be great because they'll probably get a bigger budget in the next season.

    Leningradka is third at the moment. I agree that they should be able to finish at least fourth (Kazan should get stronger when Ezhak joins them).


    Cup final four this weekend in Tula:

    • Dinamo Metar vs. Moscow with the latter as the clear favourite
    • Tulitsa vs. Lokomotiv: Loko hasn't played that convincing so far but only lost against Moscow and Kazan. Tulitsa is weaker than last season (Byarda on OPP unable to replace Azanova. Efimova is doing a better job now).
    • The expected final between Moscow and Lokomotiv should be close

    Russian players in their first Superleague season who play frequently:

    • Olga Vaganova (Uralochka): Hardly anybody can replace Parubets… Vaganova is doing a good job in attack (about the same points as teammate Kupryashkina but not as effective) but is not as reliable in reception
    • Polina Kovaleva (Ak Bars): Only 16 years old but played in 9 of 12 matches. Will play less with Ezhak joining soon.
    • Nina Kasatkina (Tulitsa): Plays at the same level as her older teammates Bavykina and Timoshkova!
    • Polina Belikova (Proton): Starting MB. She is doing really well.
    • Alexandra Mamedova (Enisey): Played in every game so far and is doing very well.
    • Elizaveta Pavlova (Ak Bars/Lipetsk): Starting OPP in Lipetsk at 16.
    • Angelina Dementyeva (Lipetsk): Usually starting OH. Reception needs some improvement.
    • Elizaveta Nesterova (Sparta): Replaced Gatina. Similar player and only 16 years old.
    • Natalya Seliverstova (Sparta): Starting OPP (26) with pretty solid performances.
    • Alina Rubtsova (setter Minchanka): Did not play much so far but looked good when she did.


    :offtopic:

    Next week Tulitsa plays in Chelyabinsk. I like that Chelyabinsk's liberos have different shirts. The name of the player with nummer 1 in both teams is: Olga Efimova.

    Quote from Rhaemon

    The russian league is almost similar to the Turkish league. Only 3 or 4 teams dominating.

    Happy to see Parubets rocking again after that nasty injury.

    Some recent results:

    Proton 3 - 2 Moscow

    Krasnodar 3 - 2 Lokomotiv

    Kazan 0 - 3 Proton

    Kazan 3 - 0 Moscow


    Uralochka (one set away from winning the league last year) won't make the playoffs this season.

    Could you name some of the up and coming young Russian players we should watch that are playing in Russia. it seems like the best ones are playing in foreign leagues.


    Also I would like to see what the Russian NT might look like if they get an independent waiver for the Paris Olympics.


    How do you think Dinamo Moscow would have faired in this years CL playoffs.


    Thanks

    Quote from usantvolleyball

    Could you name some of the up and coming young Russian players we should watch that are playing in Russia. it seems like the best ones are playing in foreign leagues.


    Also I would like to see what the Russian NT might look like if they get an independent waiver for the Paris Olympics.

    Hi.


    The best Russian young player this season, considering all elements, is Svetlana Gatina from Proton Saratov. Not just in attack, but in reception, defense, and block. She is the 4th best scorer in the league and could be a top all-around player (besides, she's tall: 1.90, and young: 2003). She kinda impressed Terzic last year.


    Another promising player is Kadochkina whose season has been kinda good despise a pause due to an injury. She's leading Kaliningrad now, let's see what she'll do in the finals.


    Other young players having a good-decent season: Shevchuk (from Krasnodar, all-around player), Chernova (from Leningradka, attacker), and Perova (from Leningradka, libero).


    If you wanna know about the upcoming players, there are some younger players currently playing as starters/bench in the Russian SuperLeague. For example Mazina (Krasnoyarsk, 1.90, 2004), Nesterova (Sparta, 1.92, 2006), Pavlova (Lipetsk, 1.85, 2006), Kovaleva (Kazan, 1.88, 2006), Musienko (Uralochka, 1.86, 2007)


    Among them, I think Nesterova has a bigger potential. She plays both OH and Opp positions and has a jump serve!



    Pavlova is good but short. Musienko has potential.


    In the 2nd division, there are many young players. F.e.: E. Gatina (Kaliningrad 2, 1.90, 2004), Asliamova (Kaliningrad 2, 1.88, 2006), Protopopova (Uralochka 2, 1.95, 2004), Shvydkaya (Uralochka 2, 2.00, 2004), others.




    BTW, if Russia plays Paris 2024, I don't think none of them will play there (they are too young). Maybe just Gatina or Kadochkina.

    Quote from usantvolleyball

    How do you think Dinamo Moscow would have faired in this years CL playoffs.


    Thanks

    Well, last season was a surprise that they beat both Novara and THY. This season if they had played with their planned squad (current + Bricio), I don't think they'd have beaten either the Turkish clubs or Conegliano. Maybe some chances against Novara, Milano, and the Polish and German clubs!

    Quote from Husky123

    Other young players having a good-decent season

    Pisarevskaya 2002 OP (but 185)

    Zhabrova 2004 MB

    Brovkina 2001 MB

    FEEtisova 2001 MB

    Pushina 2000 MB

    Kruk 2003 all-r OH

    Masaleva 1999 L


    For future

    Demidova 2005 off.OH

    Kozlova 2005 OP 208! cm

    Mamedova (Borisova) 2001 all-r.OH

    Suvorova 2004 MB

    Shikalova 2003 all-r.OH

    Yunikova 2005 MB

    Pipunyrova 2001 all-r.OH (inj)

    Zamanskaya 2004 all-r.OH


    2nd division

    Kapralova 2004 off.OH

    Gosheva 2002 all-r.OH


    Bad career choice

    Lyashko 2005 MB

    Slautina 2002 MB

    Gorbunova (Romanova) 2003 OP