The Bulgarian national team U16 recorded their second victory at the European qualification in the Turkish city of Alanya. Our boys defeated Serbia 3:2 (23:25, 26:24, 21:25, 25:16, 15:10). Former national setter Georgi Seganov applauded from the stands.
After winning their first match against Romania 3:1, the Bulgarians started somewhat intimidated by their opponent. This was evident in the first set when Serbia took a 7:3 lead. The opponents continued to maintain their lead, and at 22:18, everything seemed clear. Bulgaria, however, didn't think so. For the first time in the match, our team showed that they don't give up easily. They equalized to 22:22, then the score became 23:23, but we lost 23:25.

In the second set, we showed that we were in no way inferior to the Serbs. We led throughout the set, but in the end, there was drama again. After leading 23:18, it wasn't quite enough. The Serbs equalized 24:24, and we had to win in the final moments – 26:24.

The third set was no different in terms of tension from the previous two. Serbia pulled ahead early with 8:3 and 12:6. It seemed we would have to save the match. But no! Ivanov's boys turned it around to 15:14. Their last lead, however, was at 20:19. Then the opponent "pressed" and won 25:21, with the last point coming from an ace.

In the spirit of character, Bulgaria showed its best face in the fourth set. At no point did we leave any doubt that the match would be decided in a tie-break. We led convincingly throughout. And when our advantage was relatively small – 20:16, we scored five consecutive points to close out the set.

The tie-break was a match where not youngsters, but real men played. 2:0 for Bulgaria, 4:3 for Serbia. The opponent's last lead was at 8:7. After that, our nationals completely crushed Serbia and won 15:10.