Lokomotiv Avia (Plovdiv) achieved a 3:1 (25:19, 25:18, 17:25, 25:21) game victory over Dey Sport (Burgas) in a match from the 14th round of the men's volleyball championship. With this success, the "Black-and-Whites" overtook their rival by 2 points in the standings and now occupy fifth place with 24 points, while Dey Sport remains sixth.
The match in the hall of Plovdiv University "Paisii Hilendarski" started strongly for the hosts, who opened an early 4-point lead and maintained it throughout the game. The guests from Burgas managed to reduce their deficit to 17:19, but then Lokomotiv took the next four rallies and closed the first set with 25:19.
The second game developed in a similar fashion. Naiden Naidenov's volleyball players took control of the events on the court and pulled ahead 10:4 early on. The Dey Sport team responded and equalized to 12:12. However, new strong minutes followed for Lokomotiv, in which the Plovdiv team again accumulated a 5-point lead at 19:14, and this proved crucial for the final outcome of the second set – 25:18.
In the third game, the hosts lost the initiative, which gave an advantage to the Burgas team, who were led by Andrey Nikolov in this match, as head coach Francesco Cadeddu did not travel with the team to Plovdiv.
Dey Sport started with an 8:2 lead and gradually increased their advantage to 7 points at 20:13, after which they took the set 25:17 to reduce their game deficit.
In the fourth set, Lokomotiv again significantly raised their offensive play and took a 9:4 lead. It reached 16:11, when the guests took four consecutive rallies and closed the gap to just one point at 15:16. In the decisive moments of the game, the "Black-and-Whites" showed greater concentration and clinched the victory after 25:21.
Julien Georgiev became the MVP of the match, finishing with 17 points. Christoph Horvath added 19 (2 blocks) and Todor Valchev another 14 (1 ace, 2 blocks) for the win.
The top scorer in the match was Cardoso from Dey, who scored 21 points (1 ace), followed by Vasilev with 15 (1 ace, 2 blocks) and Valentin Bratoev with 14 points (2 aces), which were insufficient for the victory.