Tetyukhin’s son, 219-centimeter Zabolotnikov and nimble Fedorov: who is replacing the leaders of the Russian volleyball team

Highlights: The regular Russian volleyball championship among men's teams ended with a victory for Zenit Kazan. Lokomotiv, Belogorye and Dynamo received direct tickets to the quarterfinals of the playoffs. The current season has revealed many new names, and also allowed already well-known, but still young players to reveal themselves better. Even in the conditions of exclusion from international competitions, strong volleyball players continue to grow in Russia. Which of the younger generation is worth paying attention to during the decisive matches of the tournament - in the RT material.

In Russia, the regular men's volleyball championship has ended, with the playoff stage ahead. There are many new names on the lists of the best players, and this suggests that even in the conditions of exclusion from international competitions, strong athletes continue to appear and progress in the country. Which of the younger generation is worth paying attention to during the decisive matches of the tournament - in the RT material.

The regular Russian volleyball championship among men's teams ended with a victory for Zenit Kazan. Also in the top four, who received direct tickets to the quarterfinals of the playoffs, were Lokomotiv, Belogorye and Dynamo. Their opponents in the quarterfinals will be the winners of the qualifying stage, in which the teams that took fifth to thirteenth places will compete in a best-of-two series with the “golden set”.

The current season has revealed many new names, and also allowed already well-known, but still young players to reveal themselves better. Even in the conditions of exclusion from international competitions, strong volleyball players continue to grow in Russia, who will soon replace the long-term leaders of the national team.

Pavel Tetyukhin, Belogorye's finishing player

The son of the legendary finisher Sergei Tetyukhin is not a newcomer to the Russian national team, although he cannot be called an experienced fighter. The Belogorye player made his debut in the national team in the fall of 2021, when he was urgently called up to the European Championship due to injuries to Anton Syomyshev and Denis Bogdan.

Pavel was not a starting player, but only occasionally came on as a substitute to serve, but even then it was clear that in the near future he would be able to compete for a place in the starting six.

Due to the suspension of the Russian national team from international tournaments, he never had the chance to fully express himself. But over the past two years, the young player has turned from a promising junior into one of the leaders of his home team, the Belgorod Belogorye. And before the start of the 2023/24 season, the volleyball player, who was only 22 years old at that time, was chosen as captain.

Despite his age, Tetyukhin holds the record for the number of appearances for the club in the current squad. His debut as a starter took place back in 2017, but then he appeared on the court occasionally. And Pavel became a full-fledged player for Belogorye in 2019, and since then he has appeared on the court in 183 games of the Russian championship. At the end of the regular season, the Belogorye captain became the team's second most productive player after the diagonal Mohamed Al-Khachdadi. Pavel scored 352 points, 33 of them with aces. Serving is one of the strengths of the heir to Sergei Tetyukhin.

Roman Murashko, diagonal "Yenisei"

22-year-old player of Krasnoyarsk “Yenisey” Roman Murashko was one of the three most productive players of the regular Super League championship. He has 458 points in 29 games. The Russian lost only to the experienced Serbian legionnaire of Ural Uros Kovacevic, who played one match more and scored 479 points.

Murashko is a product of the Novosibirsk Lokomotiv system, although he was born in Kaliningrad. As part of the “railroad workers,” Roman won the Youth League four times, and was also recognized as the most valuable player and the best diagonal of the championship. In addition, he is a two-time silver medalist at the World Junior and Youth Championships, and became the best in his role at both tournaments.

The young striker made his debut in the Super League last season, which he spent as part of Dynamo-LO, and in the summer he moved to Krasnoyarsk. The debutant not only quickly gained a foothold in the team, but also became the main attacking force of Yenisey. In addition, he turned out to be a master at performing aces. Over 30 rounds of the championship, Roman made 49 of them and took third place in the league in this component, only slightly behind Ilya Kazachenkov (53) and Pavel Pankov (51).

One of the most striking series of his innings came in the December match with the regular season leader Zenit Kazan. The Siberians were then losing 0:2 in sets, and with the score 20:19 in the third game, Murashko came out to serve and performed five aces in a row. Kazan head coach Alexei Verbov used all possible tricks to bring down Roman, but neither a time-out nor a video replay stopped the diagonal - he brought the score to a winning 25:19. And in the fourth set, Murashko converted eight of 11 attacks and helped the team push the match into a tiebreaker, where, alas, Zenit was stronger.

Ilya Fedorov, Zenit libero

Gradually, 21-year-old Ilya Fedorov is turning into one of the leaders of domestic volleyball. According to the results of the current regular season, he demonstrated an extremely high percentage of positive reception (51) - on a par with one of the best players in the world in this position, Tokyo Olympic champion Zhenya Grebennikov.

Ilya, a graduate of the Kazan volleyball school, went through all stages of his career in Tatarstan - from the youth team to the Zenit team. In the Russian national team, he became the silver medalist of the World Championship among athletes under 19 years of age in 2019, as well as the European champion among volleyball players under 21 in 2020. At both tournaments, Ilya was recognized as the best libero.

In the Russian Super League, Fedorov first entered the court back in December 2018 at the age of 16, but then he played only a couple of games with the team. And the full debut took place in 2021 under Vladimir Alekno. Now, when the Kazan team is led by Alexei Verbov, who himself played as a libero when he was a player, the native of Novocheboksarsk has even more opportunities to improve his skills.

VC Dynamo player Ilya Fedorov
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© Vladimir Astapkovich

Georgy Zabolotnikov, central blocker of “Belogorye”

“Belogorye” has produced a great central blocker, whom volleyball fans even call the heir of Dmitry Musersky. 21-year-old Georgy Zabolotnikov is flattered by such comparisons, because he calls the London Olympic champion the standard of a player in this role.

And in one thing the young volleyball player has already surpassed his famous colleague - Georgy is one centimeter taller than Dmitry, his height is 219 cm.

Zabolotnikov was born in Moscow and began playing sports at CSKA. When he was 13 years old, Belgorod coaches noticed a tall guy and offered to move. Since then, he has been devoted to the “Lions” with heart and soul: he signed a contract until 2026 and has no intention of moving anywhere. Especially now that the team is headed by Alexander Volkov, another center who won gold at the 2012 Games.

Zabolotnikov made his debut in the Super League in the 2020/21 season, but fully joined the team only two years later. In the current championship, Georgy played 27 matches, scored 285 points - 53 of them on the block and 20 serves. In terms of the number of points among players of his role, Georgy took second place after teammate Zhang Jinyin. Moreover, his efficiency in attack - 61% - is one of the highest in the Super League.

Mikhail Vyshnikov, Fakel setter

It is most difficult for young setters to make their way into the elite. Often they have to sit in the reserves for more than one year behind a more experienced and seasoned partner, content with rare substitution appearances. European youth champion Mikhail Vyshnikov had to make this journey in the Novy Urengoy “Fakel”. In his debut season in the Super League (2021/22), he had only one chance to play the entire match, when Timofey Zhukovsky was injured.

In the next championship, when Olympic champion Sergei Grankin joined the team, the young passer’s playing time increased, and in the current regular season he has played more games on the court than his more titled colleague. Of the 27 matches with Vyshnikov in the starting lineup, Fakel won 11. The 22-year-old setter recorded 11 aces, 17 points on the block and six in attack.

Belogorye coach Alexander Volkov

The young coach of Belogorye, Alexander Volkov, also deserves special mention. The winner of the 2012 Games ended his playing career at the end of last season, having won gold in the national championship with Zenit Kazan. And soon after that he announced the start of coaching. Moreover, he immediately received a Super League team under his management.

The start of the new championship was not very successful for Belogorye: the Belgorod team suffered seven defeats in 15 first-round matches and finished in sixth place in the standings. It is worth paying tribute to the club’s management, which did not make hasty decisions and allowed Volkov to continue his work. And Belogorye went through the second part of the regular season without a single defeat, thanks to which it rose to third place and guaranteed itself a direct ticket to the quarterfinals.

The last time the “Lions” were in the top three at the end of the regular season was in 2018, when Sergei Tetyukhin, Dmitry Musersky and Sergei Grankin were still shining on the court.

Player of VC "Zenit-Kazan" Alexander Volkov and head coach of VC "Zenit-Kazan" Alexey Verbov
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