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Levski won the Bulgarian Cup after an 11-year break

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January 12, 2025 at 22:23

Levski won the Bulgarian Cup after an 11-year break

Levski won the Bulgarian Cup after defeating Montana with 3:1 (25:22, 18:25, 25:18, 25:16) in the final, played in "Arena Burgas". The match lasted one hour and 55 minutes, played in front of national coach Gianlorenzo Blengini and his assistant Francesco Cadedu. Thus, Levski won another trophy after the championship title and the Supercup of the country. This is Levski's first cup since 2014.

Levski started with a lineup of: Stetoslaav Gotsev, Venislav Antov, Julius Firkal, Vladimir Garkov, Livan Osoria, Stoil Palev and libero Konstantin Chipev. Later, Damyan Kolev, Nikolay Nikolaev, Martin Simeonov and Viktor Zhekov entered the game.

Montana's starting lineup was Kaloyan Balabanov, Bruno Rubbo, Vasily Molotkov, Kaloyan Valchinov, Pavel Dushkov, Hiroki Ito and libero Kaloyan Botev. During the match, Mark Mihaylov, Georgi Elchinov, Stefan Uzunovi and Georgi Mitov entered the game.

In the first set, the Montana team started better, taking a 4:1 lead, and then 8:5. The "Blues" scored three consecutive points to equalize, and took their first lead at 12:11. At 17:14 for Levski, Montana coach Daniel Peev called a timeout, but it did not lead to quick results, as the "Blues" scored the next point. Nikolay Zhelyazkov's team reached 24:20 and had four consecutive set points. However, Montana scored two consecutive points, with the second being an ace by the Japanese player Hiroki Ito. Levski, however, won the first part with a powerful attack by diagonal Venislav Antov - 25:22.

Montana also started the second set better. After 4:4, the team scored three consecutive points, and then the biggest difference was at 18:12. Peev's team continued to dominate and pulled ahead to 21:14, and Levski's captain Gotsev got injured, which led to his substitution with Nikolay Nikolaev. Montana won the second part 25:18 after an ace from a serve by Vasily Molotkov. In the second set, Montana made 6 errors against 11 for the opponent.

Levski took the lead in the third set for 4:2 after an ace by Antov. At 7:3, Daniel Peev called a timeout for the Montana team, and his team immediately cut the difference to two points. A block by Stoil Palev of the "Blues" brought the score to 10:5. At 18:13 for Levski, Peev again called a timeout to better organize his team. Vladimir Garkov made it 20:13 for the "Blues", with Balabanov from Montana receiving a slight injury but remaining on the court. An ace by Palev from Levski followed, and the lead became 8 points. Immediately after that, Kaloyan Balabanov was replaced by Montana's captain Georgi Elchinov. At 24:17, the "Blues" got seven set points, taking a 2:1 lead after 25:18 and a service error by Kristian Aleksov. In the third set, Levski had a 59 percent attack efficiency and made only one error.

In the fourth set, Todor Skrimov of Levski scored another ace, and a block by the "Blues" stopped an attack by Vasily Molotkov for 4:1, which forced Peev to call a timeout. Nikolay Nikolaev served an ace for Levski for 10:5. After a point by Livan Osoria on a counter-attack for 12:6, Peev used his second timeout in the match. Todor Skrimov had strong performances in this part, being unstoppable in attack and on serve. Antov made another ace for 22:12, with the difference already insurmountable. Levski led 24:15. Levski won the Bulgarian Cup after 25:16 and a service error by the Brazilian Bruno Rubbo.

The most effective player for Levski and in the match was Venislav Antov with 19 points. Todor Skrimov and Vladimir Garkov added 11 each for the winners. Vasily Molotkov scored 18 for Montana.
The MVP of the tournament was Stoil Palev.


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