MATCH INFO

Doha, Qatar, October 13, 2011 – Trentino Diatec Trento defeated Zenit Kazan 25-22, 25-21, 19-25, 25-14 on Thursday evening to advance to the FIVB Men’s Club World Championship gold-medal match against Jastrzebski Wegiel on Friday in Doha, Qatar.

Trentino Diatec will play Jastrzebski Wegiel in the title match at 7 p.m. on Friday, while Zenit Kazan will play Sesi Sao Paulo for the bronze medal at 3 p.m. Friday.

Two-time defending champion Trentino Diatec will attempt to win their third consecutive FIVB Men’s Club World Championship in Friday’s gold-medal match. The squad has now won 14 straight matches in the tournament dating back to 2009 with all the contests being played in Doha.

Matey Kaziyski sparked Trentino Diatec with 17 points, while Osmany Juantorena and Jan Stokr added 16 points. Zenit Kazan was led by Maxim Mikhaylov and his 25 points, while Yury Berzhko contributed 12 points. Stokr added 12 digs and Juantorena was excellent on 26 of 38 service receptions.

While Zenit Kazan held advantages of 11-8 in blocks, Trentino Diatec secured a 59-47 margin in attack points.

The opening set stayed close until the very late stages with Trentino Diatec holding a slim 8-7 lead at the first technical timeout. Mitar Tzourits put up a block to yield Trentino Diatec a 12-10 advantage, then Jan Stokr powered down a back-row attack to increase the margin to 13-10. After Zenit Kazan rallied to tie the score at 16-all, Trentino inched their lead to 19-17. Alexander Volkov put up a block, his second of the set, to level the score at 20-all. Osmany Juantorena notched an attack to pick up Trentino Diatec’s advantage to 23-21. Stokr added another spike to reach set points at 24-21. Trentino Diatec finished the set at 25-22 on a Zenit Kazan service error. Stokr ended the set with six points all on eight total attack attempts without an error. Trentino Diatec converted 64 percent of their attacks in the opening set.

Trentino Diatec started the second set with the first two-point cushion at 7-5. Zenit Kazan tied the set at 8-all with a Yury Berezhko back-row attack. Maxim Mikhaylov placed a block to yield a 10-9 advantage for Zenit Kazan, which inched the lead to 14-12. Tzourtis leveled the score at 16-all with a block. Trentino Diatec forged to a 20-17 advantage after consecutive Matey Kaziyski points. Tzourits camped out for a block and then added an attack point after a Zenit Kazan timeout to increase the lead to 22-17. Zenit Kazan closed the gap to 23-21 with a Mikhaylov ace and Berzhko spike. Trentino Diatec finished the set at 25-21 on a Zenit Kazan attack error. Kaziyski scored seven points in the second set. Both team’s tallied four blocks in the set.

Consecutive Trentino Diatec errors produced a 4-2 margin for Zenit Kazan in the third set. Juantorena stopped a Zenit Kazan attack to allow Trentino Diatec to tie the set at 4-all. Volkov took a quick set for a point and Mikhaylov served an ace to put Zenit Kazan in front 7-4. Reid Priddy slammed an attack out of the first technical timeout to extend Zenit Kazan’s lead to 9-5. Juantorena downed two attacks around a Zenit Kazan error to level the score at 9-all on four unanswered points. Berezhko downed an attack to allow Zenit Kazan to reach a 14-12 advantage. Stokr tied the set at 15-all with an attack. Mikhaylov launched a spike and Priddy blocked two consecutive attacks to push Zenit Kazan to a 20-17 advantage at a Trentino Diatec timeout. Out of the break, Mikhaylov notched a block to increase the lead to 21-17. Mikhaylov gave Zenit Kazan set points at 24-19, then Volkov finished the set with sharp angle attack at 25-19.

Consecutive errors by Zenit Kazan and a Stokr block and spike presented Trentino Diatec with an 8-4 lead at the first technical timeout of the fourth set. Trentino Diatec added a fifth straight point on aanother attack error by Zenit Kazan at 9-4. Zenit Kazan cut the gap to 12-9 with a Berezhko kill and Trentino Diatec attack error. Juantorena regained a Trentino Diatec five-point edge at 14-9 with a spike, then Emanuele Birarelli added block for a 15-9 advantage. Kaziyski slammed an attack to the middle of the court out of the second technical timeout to increase Trentino Diatec’s advantage to 17-10. Birarelli served an ace to extend the gap to 20-11. Trentino Diatec reached match points at 24-14 on a Zenit Kazan service error, then Birarelli blocked the final point for a 25-14 victory.