Bulgaria made a complete comeback against Poland, recording their third victory in the preliminary group of the European Championship for girls under 18 in Greece. In 121 minutes of play, our team achieved a difficult but sweet 3:2 (25-21, 25-21, 21-25, 26-28, 7-15) against a very strong opponent. The two teams were close in almost all indicators - our team made 5 more successful attacks, 10 points came from blocks, and 7 from serves. We also had 4 more unforced errors than the Polish team. Denitsa Angelova was the top scorer with 22 points (2 aces, 5 blocks), Kalina Veneva contributed 14 points (1 ace, 2 blocks), and Darina Naneva added 12 (including 2 aces). For the opponent, Natasha Ornokh was above all with 26 points (5 aces, 2 blocks).
Thus, with 8 points from 3 victories, the Bulgarian national team temporarily tops the standings, while "druzyna polska" (the Polish team) is second with 7 points (2 victories, 1 loss).

Poland started the first set with a strong lead of 0:4, which forced Tony Zetova to call a timeout. The Polish players continued their pressure, and the score increased to 1:9. Our opponent maintained a significant lead until the middle of the game, when the Bulgarians made a 6-point run, which forced Poland's staff to call a timeout. With great effort, we managed to reduce the difference to two points, after which Poland "hit the gas" and closed the set with 25:21.

The teams fiercely contested the second game, with the score going point for point. After the 17th point, the Polish players managed to pull ahead and maintained a 2-3 point lead, closing the set again with the same score of 25:21.

Tony Zetova's girls did not give up and pulled ahead at the start of the third game, at one point reaching a 10-point lead in our favor. A temporary lapse in our ranks allowed the opponent to reduce the lead to two points, but the Bulgarians were more concentrated at the end and took the set.

Poland started the fourth game with a bang, forcing Antonina Zetova to call a timeout when the score was 5:1 for the opponent. Several good serves and blocks managed to close the gap, after which our team managed to stay one or two points behind their opponent. We took the lead for the first time at 17:16, after a nice drop shot by Elisaveta Sarieva. The score was leveled several times, and at the very end of the game, Zetova made two double substitutions and called a timeout, breaking up the play and stopping the momentum of the Polish players. Our girls got the first chance for a game point, but our opponents managed to counter. After a single block by Sarieva, the score became 26:25, which forced Poland to call a timeout. After that, the "lionesses" allowed only one tie and managed to close the game with 28:26, sending the match to a tie-break.

In the final set, the Bulgarians came out maximally focused and, despite a few service errors, managed to maintain a comfortable lead. The change of courts came at 8:4. Several blocks and attacks through the middle brought the score to 14:7 for Bulgaria. The last point in the game and the match came from an ace by our team, completing the full comeback.

Tomorrow (July 4th) our girls have a day off, and on July 5th (Friday) at 2:30 PM, they will face Lithuania. After that, there will be matches against Finland, Greece, and Hungary.