The team led by Bulgarian coach Plamen Konstantinov and featuring national distributor Moni Nikolov from "Lokomotiv" (Novosibirsk) failed to qualify for the final of the Russian volleyball cup. In a closely contested match in Moscow, "Lokomotiv" lost to the reigning champions, "Dynamo" (Moscow), with a score of 2:3 (25:22, 18:25, 25:22, 23:25, 11:15) in the semi-finals. As a result, the team of Konstantinov was dethroned as the trophy holder.
Tonight, the 19-year-old Nikolov, who once again demonstrated his class, and his teammates will face "Zenit" (Kazan) in the match for the bronze medal, which they have already secured from the championship.
The final match for the cup will be between the home teams "Dynamo" (Moscow) and "Zenit" (Saint Petersburg).
This is a massive letdown for Plamen and Moni's team. After such a close match, you'd think they'd have clinched the finals. What's next for them, and can they bounce back from this loss?