CSKA youth player and French international Viden Natsev helped Narbonne turn the game against Royan from 0:2 to 3:2 (23:25, 19:25, 28:26, 25:14, 16:14) in a match from the second round of the French championship, played on October 20 in front of 2083 spectators.
The 18-year-old Bulgarian, who represents France at the national level, finished with 9 points - 7 from attack, one ace, and one block. Natsev scored 7 out of 10 attacks for a 70% success rate, with one error and one blocked shot. His overall efficiency rating is +4.
His strongest performance came in the tie-break: four successful attacks out of five attempts - 80%. Thus, Natsev scored half of Narbonne's eight attack points in the decisive game. In the fourth set, he added three successful attacks out of four attempts. Although recruited as an outside hitter, Natsev started the fourth and fifth sets as an opposite hitter against setter Simon Gilles, taking the place of Michał Czerwiński. He was not tasked with reception.
The young volleyball player came on as a substitute in the second set, where he recorded a block, and in the third, he scored an ace. After winning the third set 28:26, Patrick Duflo kept him among the starters until the end, and Natsev repaid him with seven attack points in the last two sets.
The most effective player for the winners was Tim Held with 23 points, while for Royan, Cheikh Diop finished with 26.