Matches of the Russian men's volleyball team 2016

The Russian team met the new 2016 in Germany . On January 5, the Maxim Schmeling Berlin Sports Complex kicked off the European Olympic qualifying tournament with 8 teams, where the only direct ticket to the Games in Rio de Janeiro was played. Starting his performance with a victory over the Finns , the Russian team the next day was defeated by the French and lost a binder Dmitry Kovalev , who, having replaced in the first installment, unsuccessfully landed after blocking in one of the episodes and received serious ankle damage ^[1] . In the final match in their group, the Russians defeated the Bulgarian team , weakened due to injuries of Todor Aleksiev and Tsvetan Sokolov.

The Russian team won the semifinal and final matches with a score of 3: 1, in both cases giving the rivals the first batch. “I must say that Tetyukhin again saved Russia,” said Vladimir Alekno after the semifinal with the hosts of the tournament , in which the captain of the Russian team was always reliable in difficult moments and scored 17 points. The replacement for Artyom Volvich , who tortured the Germans with his planning serve and earned two victory points after 24:24 in the fourth installment, also worked completely. ^[2] In a decisive match against the current winners of the World League and European Championship of the French, timely replacements also helped to win a strong-willed victory. With a score of 5:13 in the first installment, Alekno released Yuri Berezhko and Alexander Markin instead of Sergei Tetyukhin and Yegor Kluka , and although this did not affect the outcome of the first set, in the future Dynamo gamers completely changed the game’s design, for which the “three-colored” were not ready ^{[ 3]} . As a result of the tournament, two players of the national team received individual awards: Tetyukhin was recognized by the organizers as the most valuable player, and Maxim Mikhailov was recognized as the best diagonal.

From May 12 to 22, the Russian team held a training camp at the Volley Grad sports and fitness center near Anapa . In preparation for the next World League tournament, 20 volleyball players participated. Among them were all winners of the January Olympic qualification, except for blocking Dmitry Shcherbinin and libero Alexei Obmochaev , who was expelled from Dynamo during the club season for violation of discipline. Since February, his teammate Alexander Markin, who passed a positive test for meldonium during the tournament in Berlin, has not participated in official matches. In late April, after the softening of WADA's position and the FIVB ’s decision to remove Markin from suspension, he was immediately included in the expanded team.

The team’s application for the World League included two naturalized players at once - the company of ex-diagonal team of Ukraine Konstantin Bakun , who made his debut for Russia in January, was made up of former Slovakian team player Lukas Divis . The Olympic champion of London Dmitry Musersky , libero Artyom Ermakov and the young diagonal Viktor Poletaev ^[4] returned to the team. In the framework of the World League, their first official matches for the Russian national team, in addition to Divis, were played by Dmitry Volkov and blocker Alexander Gutsalyuk , while experienced Maxim Mikhailov and Yuri Berezhko could not play in this tournament because of injuries. According to Vladimir Alekno and Sergey Tetyukhin, all the players at the beginning of the World League had certain health problems, but in general, the Russian team did not have such a difficult situation as before the Olympics in London ^{[5] [6]} .

The World League tournament was held under the new rules, similar to the women's Grand Prix . The Russian national team won 5 victories in the intercontinental round, including twice defeating the reigning world champions of the Poles , and lost 4 times. The defeat from Argentina , the future rival of the group at the Olympic Games, 0-3 in the sixth match of the tournament, practically deprived the Russian team of chances of reaching the final stage and at the final stage in Dallas she was unable to correct the situation ^{[7] [8]} . During the tournament, Vladimir Alekno involved 16 volleyball players, experimented a lot with the squad, and tried various game combinations.

The final stage of preparation for the Olympic Games, the Russian team held in Novogorsk . Maxim Mikhailov and Igor Kobzar , who did not play in the World League, joined her, but at the same time it became known that Dmitry Musersky and Yuri Berezhko could not help the team in Rio due to injuries ^[9] . Sergey Grankin also had ankle damage, but this injury did not prevent him from performing at the Olympics ^[10] . The preparation of the team was complicated by the nervous situation with the possible removal of Russia from the Games on the basis of the McLaren report . On July 24, the executive committee of the International Olympic Committee transferred the right to decide on personal admission in each sport to the relevant international federations. The FIVB announced the admission of Russian volleyball players on July 27 ^[11] , on the same day Vladimir Alekno named the final application of 12 players ^[12] and on July 28 the team flew to Rio.

On August 5, at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Sergey Tetyukhin carried the Russian flag. For the 40-year-old captain of the Russian national team, these Games became the sixth in his career ^[13] .

The Russian national team began all matches of the Olympic tournament with six players, which included Sergey Grankin, Maxim Mikhailov, Sergey Tetyukhin, Egor Klyuka, Alexander Volkov and Artyom Volvich, Alexei Verbov played the role of libero. In the opening match against the Cubans , who, for various reasons, played far from the optimal line-up, the goal of Vladimir Alekno was to check all players in the case, but it was worth the lost game, which the Russian team conducted without Tetyukhin and Alexander Volkov ^[14] . In the next match, against the Argentine national team, Mikhailov, who had missed most of the pre-Olympic training, had not yet shown enough. With a score of 12:18 in the first game, Alekno made a double substitution, changing not only the main diagonal, but also Grankin's binder, which, as it became known after the match, played with a swollen leg ^[15] . The output of Igor Kobzar and Konstantin Bakun helped the Russian team recover and take the second set, but not break the opponent, moreover, problems with the reception of the Argentine pitch did not allow a quick game. In the fourth set, the Russians were in the lead for a long time, but with a score of 20:19 in the fourth game, they lost five points in a row on the innings of Facundo Conte ^[16] .

Like at the Games four years ago in London, the Russian team began to add after a difficult start during the tournament. In the third match of the group stage, Alekno's team “in an hour with a shower” sorted out the Egyptian national team , then won a beautiful and hard victory in five games over the Polish national team. After the match with world champions, the coach noted that “Max Mikhailov seems to come to life” ^[17] , the Russians outplayed the opponent in the attack at the first pace, on the block and in defense. The Poles are largely due to the game of Bartosz Kurek , who scored 36 points for the match and realized 13 of 13 attacks in the fourth installment, brought the match to a shortened fifth set, but the Russian block stopped him in the decisive segment of the game ^[18] . In the last match of the group stage, the Russian team, which had already guaranteed itself access to the playoffs, 3-0 won the Iranian team and took third place in the group. According to the results of the draw, the rival of the Russians in the quarter-finals was the Canadian team , and this match also ended with a confident victory for the Alekno wards ^[19] .

In the semifinals, the Russian team met with the Brazilian team and this time the classic confrontation ended with the victory of the hosts of the Olympics in three sets. Despite the problems with the reception and attack, the abundance of mistakes, the Russian team in the first and second games managed to keep up with the opponent, but in the end the Brazilians seized the initiative, and double substitution Igor Kobzar and Konstantin Bakun did not change the situation. With a score of 19:22 in the second set, Sergei Tetyukhin scored an ace, having laid the ball between two Brazilians. The next pitch went “for”, but the Russians indicated to the judge Juraj Mokrom from Slovakia that the ball touched the Brazilian host. The arbitrator did not change his mind and in addition made a comment to Alexander Volkov. At the beginning of the third set after receiving Maxim Mikhailov’s pitch, the Brazilian hit the ball with a rope under the ceiling, along which the camera moves, but the judge did not show “out”, but a controversial ball. After these and other judicial errors ^{[20], the} Russians did not give up, but in the third installment after a score of 10:10 they failed in the line-ups at the service of Wallace and Bruno - 10:14, 14:20 and eventually lost ^[21] . In a post-match interview, Alekno said: “Today we lost almost without a fight. What we prepared for and tuned in for did not work out at all ” ^[22] .

In the bronze match against the United States, the Russian team won 2-0 in the games, but the Americans, who markedly stood out who replaced the second set, William Priddy , were able to recoup, and in the protracted match of resources, the wards of Alekno did not have enough ^{[23 ]} . The organizers included Artyom Volvich ^[24] in the symbolic team of the Olympic tournament. In Rio 2016, Alexei Verbov held the 200th match for the national team, and Sergei Tetyukhin overcame the line of 3,000 goals won ^[25] . After the bronze match, both players announced their retirement in the national team ^[26] , and Vladimir Alekno left the team.

For the first time since 1996, the Russian team was left without medals in the Olympic volleyball tournament. Summing up the performance of the national team, Vladimir Alekno said:

I can’t say that this is a failure. Fourth place is a break in the soul for me ... Previously, our weapon was physics, they could serve the opponent by serving, they were blocked. But now it’s hard to beat an opponent with physics alone. We lagged, first of all, in technical terms ^[27] .

In 2016, the Russian team held 22 matches, of which 14 won.

In official matches of the Russian national team in 2016, 21 volleyball players took part.

• European Olympic Qualification Tournament on the website of the European Volleyball Confederation
• World League 2016 on the website of the International Volleyball Federation
• Olympic tournament on the website of the International Volleyball Federation
• Two "failures", not counting the "beach people". The results of the year in volleyball (neopr.) . Championship.com (December 31, 2016).