Zenit Kazan won over Zaksa Kedzierzyn-Kozle on the way to the bronze medal, but both teams left Omsk slightly disappointed.
Zenit head coach Vladimir Alekno commented after the game:
“Similarly to what happened yesterday, the side making fewer mistakes is the one that finally wins. We minimized our errors while our opponents were quite faulty. I have to say that our setter, Valerio Vermiglio, marshaled the team very well and our first-tempo attacks proved to be one of our main assets. It is a bronze medal, probably not exactly what we had hoped for coming here, but it remains a valuable result for our club and my players. It is also a good way to end the European season as we now will fully concentrate on our national league.
“We played a couple of great teams and since for most of our players this was the first final four, though we end up in fourth place, this is part of a learning process and we do hope that the next time we’ll achieve a better result” Zaksa mentor Daniel Castellani concluded.
“Russian team did great in this game” – added Jurij Gladyr – “They didn’t make so many mistakes as we did, they could handle our block.We couldn’t do that.We just didn’t show our best in this tournament. Shame, because we definitely have a potential to play much better”.
Young Polish middle blocker, Lukasz Wisniewski, felt how close he and his team were to gain something bigger. “You can say that even our participation in Final Four is a kind of success. Sure it is, but the The appetite grows with what it feeds on. We disappointed our fans and families, but most of all – ourselves”