Just under 24 hours after the exhausting five-set battle against Canada and after a total of three five-set matches within four days, Aleksandar Nikolov played one of his strongest matches of the tournament in Ljubljana and led Bulgaria to a valuable 3:1 (25:20, 18:25, 25:23, 25:17) victory over Ukraine. The national team star scored 26 points and was among the main contributors to the success, which left the 'Lions' with 5 wins and 14 points in an excellent position in the race for a spot in the Volleyball Nations League Finals in China. After the match, Nikolov spoke to VolleyWeek about the team's mental resilience, Gianlorenzo Blengini's philosophy, his own performance, and Simeon Nikolov's impressive play.
Alex, you managed to overcome a very tough and significantly strengthened opponent. Last year in Burgas, Bulgaria lost to Ukraine without Oleg Plotnytskyi, and now he has returned. How did you see this match from the court?
It was incredible, really. And most of all, it was great fun. Today we truly enjoyed ourselves on the court. I think every fan could appreciate that. This is Bulgaria. When we have fun, when we are together and united, we play much better, and that leads to such results.
Did you suffer, as Gianlorenzo Blengini likes to say?
Technically – yes. But the suffering he talks about is mental. Not to be crushed. When the opponent makes a run of points or starts to challenge you with their serve, not to hang your head. He uses an Italian expression –di non subire. And today there wasn't a single moment where that happened. We didn't hang our heads, even though they made a big run in the second set, and in the third, they cut three points from 24:20 to 24:23. We managed to come back, and that was exactly the most important thing.
You said yesterday that this match opens 50 percent of the path to the final tournament in China. What needs to happen in the next two weeks?
The most important thing is to reduce the dips in our game. They cannot completely disappear, but we must minimize them. This is the consistency that we all want to achieve. If we manage to reach such consistency with the level we have already accumulated, we will take another big step forward.
Tell me now, when you talk to Nikolov Sr. on the phone, what mistakes will he find in your game after this match?
Today – absolutely none. This might sound a bit immodest, but after three very tough matches for me, in which I didn't play at the level I expect from myself, I managed to step out and play one of my strongest matches in the tournament. Both in attack percentages and in feeling on the court, and in team play – being with the guys, receiving, attacking, helping in all elements. So I am proud of myself, and I think that today the person you're talking about will have no remarks.
And will the person we are talking about find anything for Junior?
For Junior? What can I tell you... Yes, he had two service errors, but with his execution alone, he managed to create huge problems for the opponent. Besides, he was very precise even with difficult balls, because today it was extremely hard to set after such a reception in a Nations League match. He remained at a very high level in all elements, so there's nothing bad to say about him either.
