15th anniversary tournament for Yeltsin Cup has ended in Yekaterinburg. In the final match two favorites of this season met on the court – national teams of Serbia and Russia. In the severe match, Serbian volleyball players gained the victory with a score 3:2, consequently in the tournament.
Along the competition, before meeting with each other, both teams won 3 victories each, so the destiny of the trophy determined this match. It should be reminded, that Russian team is a fundamental rival for Serbians. They had defeated our team in quarterfinal at Rio Olympics 2016, and then got to the final.
For Yeltsin Cup Serbian team came with its strongest lineup: 6 silver Olympic medalists and 4 European champions. So this match has become a real challenge for our team. Serbians led in the first set – 19:25. Second set was equal, but after the messy end, Russians were able to lead – 25:22. The third set was complicated, at first Serbian team was ahead for 5 points, then Russians could catch up with the guests, but still remained overtaker – 21:25. The fourth set, however, was tough and ended with 28:26 for Russian team. Tie-break determined the fate of the tournament. The competitors were neck-and-neck and only in the end, Serbians could win 2 points – 14:16. Serbians get the Cup. Russia is the second.
In another match of the final day, Turkey team confidently bet Kazakhstan 3:0 and for the second time in history became the bronze winner of Yeltsin Cup.
To mention, the best blocker became ex-player of Uralochka-NTMK Irina Koroleva (Zaryazhko).
Individual prizes of Yeltsin Cup 2017:
Best attacker – Brankica Mihajlovic, Serbia
Best blocker – Irina Koroleva (Zaryazhko), Russia
Best libero – Simge Akoz, Turkey
Best server – Hande Baladin, Turkey
Best setter – Evgeniya Startseva, Russia
Best young player in Russian team is Anna Lazareva
Miss tournament – Elitsa Vasileva, Bulgaria
Closing ceremony happened right after the match, where participated such guests as a wife of the first president Naina Yeltsin, First Deputy Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Aleksey Orlov, Deputy Head of Yekaterinburg Administration Mikhail Matveev, Head of Nizhniy Tagil Andrey Zyablitsev, managing director of EVRAZ NTMK Aleksey Kushnarev, CEO of Uralochka volleyball club Valentina Ogienko, supervisor of women’s teams of Russian Volleyball Federation Vladislav Fadeev.
Final teams rating:
1 – Serbia
2 – Russia
3 – Turkey
4 – Bulgaria
5 – Kazakhstan