CEV Cup: Dynamo Moscow won trophy in golden set

Moscow, Russia, April 11, 2015. The second chapter of this year’s CEV Volleyball Cup – Men final was as dramatic as only a real ‘clash of the giants’ can be. The hosts of Dinamo MOSCOW could rely on the three points they had taken on Tuesday with their 3:1 away win in Italy but once again they found in Italy’s Energy T.I. Diatec TRENTINO a classy and resilient opponent. Trailing 1:2, Dinamo missed out on two ‘match balls’ in the fourth set – by taking two sets the Muscovites would have closed the affair without having to win an eventual tie-break – but regrouped in the golden set that followed their 1:3 (27-25, 19-25, 17-25, 24-26) home loss to cruise to the final 15-12 powered by MVP Pavel Kruglov that sealed their second CEV Cup title in four years. Back in 2012, Dinamo MOSCOW had indeed lifted the trophy of Europe’s second most prestigious club competition after two tie-break wins over Poland’s Asseco Resovia RZESZOW.   

The start of the match set the tone for what was going to follow with a very close fight right from the early stages of the first set. It was almost impossible for Dinamo and TRENTINO to break away in the score and the first and technical time-outs were called with the hosts leading by one and two points, respectively. Pavel Kruglov and Denis Biryukov set the pace for the home side and the first set eventually came to an end at 27-25 with Matey Kaziyski spiking into the net. Pavel Kruglov ended up the first stanza on 10 points, thereby already asserting his role as ‘man of the match’ for Dinamo. 

That same close fight continued also in the second set with TRENTINO breaking away after the second technical break. Emanuele Birarelli stopped Dinamo’s middle blocker Maxwell Holt before Kaziyski followed up with an ace. Dinamo’s coach Yuriy Marichev decided to opt for some of his second lines – Yury Berezhko and Igor Filippov – but he could not prevent the Italians from cruising to the final 19-25 sealed by their Slovak opposite Martin Nemec. 

TRENTINO continued their strong performance also in the third set claiming a nine-point lead at 19:10. Ivan Zaytsev, Pavel Pankov and Berezhko all joined the actions for Dinamo but once again coach Marichev did not get the desired effect, with TRENTINO pocketing also set 3, this time by 25-17. Alexander Markin replaced Berezhko right from the beginning of the fourth set and Dinamo set the pace almost from start to the end getting a margin of as many as four points at 19:15. However, at this stage TRENTINO came back strong and levelled the score at 20 all. Dinamo MOSCOW had two set balls – two virtual match balls as if converted they would have secured their victory in this double final – at 24:22 but TRENTINO responded with four points in a row for the final 26-24 that sealed their 3:1 victory and called for the golden set. 

Dinamo MOSCOW regrouped there to lead by 10:6 but as they were approaching the finish line, TRENTINO got closer again (12:11). This time around, however, Dinamo did not falter and they eventually brought the game to an end at 15-12 to celebrate their second CEV Volleyball Cup title in four years with Pavel Kruglov receiving the award for the Most Valuable Player of the finals. 

“I can’t say much at the end of such game,” Kruglov – who top scored with 27 points – said, “we left all of our energy out there on the court. It was a very difficult match. I think we both delivered a real Volleyball show which I hope pleased the fans in attendance. I am very happy with our second title in the CEV Volleyball Cup. This individual award is not as important, it matters much more to me that we won in the end and we have the gold medals around our neck. I only regret that we did not win the fourth set where we made many mistakes, especially towards the end. However, we managed to come back, solved our problems and eventually won the golden set.” 
 

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