Bulgaria will have a new Cup holder, after the two semi-finals of the tournament in Burgas were played today.
After a repeat of last year's finalLevski prevailed over the trophy holder Dea Sport with 3:2 (25:21, 25:22, 21:25, 21:25, 15:11)in the first semi-final, played in the new Burgas arena. Coach Francesco Cadeddu's boys were on the verge of a complete comeback, after trailing by 2:0 sets, but the champion's class asserted itself and they managed to fight for the victory in the tie-break, after taking an early lead in the last set. The numbers from the match also speak of the extremely contested match: 57 to 56 successful attacks, 5 aces each team. Levski, however, recorded more block points: 10 to 5.

Todor Skrimov was the most effective with 17 points (4 aces, 1 block), Venislav Antov added 16 points (1 block). Vladimir Garkov scored 14 points (1 ace, 1 block). For Dea, Patrick Lamanec contributed 23 points (1 ace), Valentin Bratoev finished with 13 points (1 ace, 3 blocks). The match was also watched by the mayor of Burgas Dimitar Nikolov.

Even more intriguing was the second semi-final, in which Neftochimic and Montana faced each other. The pre-tournament favourite co-host started the first set at full throttle, closing it at 25:18. Montana managed to equalize with the same score. This was followed by an exchange of sets, with which the match went into a tie-break.
Neftochimic took the first point in the tie-break, after which Montana made a series of three and took a decisive lead, maintained until the very end. The guests got three match points and missed the first with a block out, and in the second Molotkov sent the ball out. Daniel Peev predictably called a timeout, and in the next rally Rozalin Penchev failed to complete a counter-attack for Neftochimic, which ended the hosts' hopes of having a Burgas team in the final.

Supported by his beautiful girlfriend and father from the stands, Axel Trukhchev finished with 21 points (2 aces, 1 block), Rozalin Penchev added 12, and new recruit David Krastev another 14 points, which proved insufficient for victory. Above all was the usual suspect Vasilii Molotkov, who finished with 25 points (3 aces, 3 blocks).

Pavel Dushkov and Kaloyan Valchinov added 14 and 12 points for the win.
Thus, Levski will face Montana in tomorrow's final. This is a kind of rematch for Montana, who already played a final in 2018 against Neftochimic and lost 3:0. For the Levski team, this is a chance to add another trophy to their display cabinet after the Champions Cup and the Supercup.
Neftochimic-Montana2:3 (25:18, 18:25, 25:21, 22:25, 13:15).
Both matches were watched by national coach Blengini, who was accompanied by the head coach of the U21 formation Ventsi Simeonov.

photos: Nikolay Varadinov