Montana's volleyball players are the last semifinalist for the Bulgarian Cup, after managing a partial comeback and, after nearly three hours of play, defeated Beroe 3:2 (14:25, 29:27, 19:25, 25:20, 19:17). Vasily Molotkov became the hero of the match, who, despite several errors in crucial moments, managed to play strongly at the right time to contribute the most to the victory - 29 points (1 block).

After Beroe decisively took the first set, Miroslav Zhivkov's volleyball players missed the opportunity to lead 2:0, after having a chance at 25:24. Here again Molotkov was the reason the set went to Montana's advantage, after making a point in attack and a strong serve that troubled the opponent and allowed Montana to equalize the sets.
Beroe did not let their guard down and managed to lead 2:1 after strong blocking play. In the fourth set, the roles reversed, and Montana's volleyball players were more active, managing to neutralize the recovered Spas Bayrev, as well as Jasmin Velichkov, who had a strong match.
The tie-break was dramatic, with Beroe reaching the eighth point first after an Alexov touch on an attack. After an out-of-bounds attack by Molotkov, the score became 12:9 for Stara Zagora. Again, Beroe was the first to reach match point at 14:13 after a service error by Molotkov. The Russian retaliated and equalized. Three more ties followed: 15:15, 16:16, 17:17, when Molotkov again led his team to match point. The match ended after Jasmin Velichkov touched the net during an attack.

Besides Molotkov, the winners had double-digit scores from Kaloyan Balabanov with 12 points (3 blocks) and Kristiyan Alexov with 10 points (2 aces, 2 blocks).

For Beroe, Velizar Chernokozhev was above all with 20 points (5 blocks). Captain Rusi Zhelev finished with 17, and Jasmin Velichkov added another 13.

Beroe won 19 points from blocks against 13 for Montana. In service points, Beroe also led 5 to 3.

Thus, the Montana team will face the hosts Neftochimic tomorrow in a battle for a place in the final.

photos: NVL