Belgrade.Bulgaria's women's national team recorded their ninth loss in the Volleyball Nations League after losing to the Czech Republic 1:3 (25:16, 12:25, 19:25, 14:25) in their second match of the third week of the tournament in Belgrade. After the defeat, Marcelo Abbondanza's team remains in last, 18th place, with 2 wins, 9 losses, and 5 points, while the Czech Republic is now 10th with 5 wins, 6 losses, and 14 points. Thus, the match against France on Saturday becomes a direct battle for remaining in the elite, as the French team is directly ahead of Bulgaria with 6 points. The loss cost the national players another 4.02 points from the world ranking, with their total now being 144.38 points, while the Czech Republic increased their total to 215.62 points.
The Bulgarian women played an excellent first set, completely outplaying their opponent with stable serving, good blocking, and effective attacking for a convincing 25:16. Everything seemed under control, but this turned out to be the only strong period in the match for our team.
The second set was entirely dictated by the Czech Republic. Bulgaria fell into a serious crisis in attack and reception, while the opponent dominated in blocking and quickly built up a large lead to equalize after a decisive 25:12.
The third set was the most contested after the first. Bulgaria managed to catch up from a four-point deficit and equalize at 16:16, but in the end, the Czech women again asserted their superiority with excellent play in blocking and attacking, winning 25:19.
In the fourth set, Bulgaria held the score even only until 5:5, after which the Czech Republic went on a decisive run, built up a double-digit lead, and closed out the match without problems after 25:14.
Statistics clearly show the superiority of the Czech Republic. The opponent scored 60 points in attack against 40 for Bulgaria, made 12 successful blocks against 7, and recorded 3 aces against only 1 for our team. Bulgaria's only advantage came from more points after opponent errors - 22 against 16. Despite better reception (79% to 66%), the Czech women compensated with stronger attacking, more blocks, and a total of 91 points scored against 70 for Bulgaria. In terms of saved balls in defense, there was also a minimal advantage for the Czech Republic - 96 against 92.
The top scorer for Bulgaria was Alexandra Milanova with 11 points, and Mikaela Stoyanova added 10. For the Czech Republic, Monika Brancuska played a phenomenal match with 30 points, and Magdalena Jehlárová finished with 12.

photo: Nikolay Varadinov