Hebar Pazardzhik's volleyball players recorded their fourth victory since the start of the season, after defeating Pirin Razlog in a five-set match full of twists, nerves, errors, cards, and beautiful plays.With the point won, Pirin remains in eighth position and will travel to Burgas in early January, where the Bulgarian Cup tournament will be held.
After taking a 2-0 lead, the hosts could have closed the match in the very next set, but the guests played more concentrated at the end of the set, which finished 24:26. The fourth set unfolded similarly, when Pirin first had a set point after a service error by Hebar. Only on their second attempt did Blagovest Katrandzhiev's boys force the match into a tie-break, again with a 24:26 score.
In the final set, the hosts were the first to reach the eighth point. At 9:7, an attack by the guests followed, who disputed the referee's out call, resulting in Atanas Varbanov showing two red cards after the ensuing altercation. Hebar managed to play more concentrated after 11:11 and managed to close the match with an attack by Kordev.
The MVP of this intriguing match was Trifon Lapkov, who recorded 23 points (2 aces, 4 blocks).Three more Hebar players finished with double-digit scores: Batista-15, Mechkarov and Kordev with 10 each. For Pirin, Mariyan Nakov was the top scorer with 24 points, Kamenov added 23, but they were not enough for the victory.
With the two points won, Hebar climbed to ninth position, before the remaining four matches until the end of the half-season are played.
Hebar Pazardzhik - Pirin Razlog 3:2 (28:26, 25:18, 24:26, 24:26, 15:13)