Zenit-Kazan volleyball players recorded a decisive 3:0 (25:12, 25:17, 25:19) victory over Lokomotiv (Novosibirsk) in a Group B match of the Russian Cup Final Six, which is taking place in Moscow. The success pre-qualified Alexey Verbov's team for the semifinals of the tournament.
The Kazan team completely dominated already in the first set. Zenit won the attack with an impressive 67% against only 35% for their opponent, without committing a single direct error in attack. At the block, the hosts also had a significant superiority – 4:0, which led to the crushing 25:12. Lokomotiv's coaching staff tried changes early in the match. At 5:8, opposite hitter Iliya Kazachenkov was taken out of the game, and at 7:13, Bulgarian setter Simeon Nikolov also left the court. However, the substitutions failed to change the course of the match. In the first set, all Novosibirsk players finished with a total of only 9 points, while Zenit's outside hitter Mikhail Labinsky scored 8.
In the second set, Zenit-Kazan continued to dominate, especially at the block, where they won convincingly with 7:0. The hosts neutralized Lokomotiv's main scorers – Rajab Shahbanmirzaev played with 33% attack efficiency, Omar Kurbanov with 38%, and the Belgian Sam Deroo remained without a successful attack from five attempts.
At the same time, the Kazan team maintained excellent efficiency in attack. Mikhail Labinsky scored 4 out of 6 attacks in the second set, and Maxim Mikhailov was flawless – 3 out of 3. The decisive moment in the third set came during Alexey Kononov's serves. With the score at 6:5, he went to the service line, and his serving run gave Zenit a 12:5 lead, with Kononov also recording two aces during it.
Mikhail Labinsky was the top scorer in the match with 16 points and an impressive 79% attack efficiency (15/19). Alexey Kononov added 9 points, scoring 5 of the team's total 12 blocks. For Lokomotiv, only Rajab Shahbanmirzaev reached double-digit points – 10 points.

Zenit-Kazan secured first place in the group even before their last match against Dynamo-LO. Even with a 0:3 defeat, the team from Tatarstan will maintain a better set ratio than Lokomotiv.