Bulgaria concluded the preliminary phase of the U18 Men's European Championship in Cisterna di Latina with a dramatic loss. In their last match of Group B, Miroslav Zhivkov's team conceded to Spain 2:3 (28:30, 25:18, 19:25, 25:23, 12:15), but despite the defeat, our team had already secured their spot in the semi-finals yesterday.
The Bulgarian nationals might regret not achieving a clean victory. They were close to taking the lead immediately after the first set, which offered exceptional drama. The Spanish dictated events almost to the very end and led 21:17, but a series of excellent blocks allowed Bulgaria to turn the score to 24:23. Four missed set points followed for the opponent, and after a block against Gradinarov, Spain ultimately snatched the set 30:28.
In the second set, the Bulgarian team reacted in the best possible way. The nationals took the initiative from the start, maintained a stable lead throughout, and did not allow their opponent to catch up. Following a service error from Spain, Bulgaria equalized after a convincing 25:18.
The third set, however, was entirely dictated by the Spanish. They seriously challenged the Bulgarian reception with powerful serves and gradually extended their lead to 16:11, 20:13, and 23:14. The nationals only managed to reduce the deficit towards the end, before Spain closed the set 25:19 after a Bulgarian service error.
Even before the match concluded, Bulgaria knew they would finish second in the group, as they had already lost a point, and earlier, France had defeated Belgium 3:0, guaranteeing themselves the first position after our team lost two sets. Nevertheless, Miroslav Zhivkov's players did not give up. In the fourth set, they trailed 9:14 but gradually closed the gap. After 22:22, an attack out by the Spanish gave Bulgaria a 23:22 lead, and a successful block brought Bulgaria their first set point. A video challenge overturned the initial out call, returning the score to 24:23, but immediately after, Veselinov scored with a block-out for 25:23, sending the match to a tie-break.
The decisive fifth set started excellently for Bulgaria, who took a 3:0 lead. However, the Spanish again imposed a strong serve, improved their attack efficiency, and equalized at 7:7, after which they led 13:9. The Bulgarian nationals reduced the deficit to two points, but a service out ended the suspense, and Spain won the tie-break 15:12 and the match 3:2.
Team statistics show a significant superiority for Bulgaria in blocking – 19 against 7 successful blocks. Spain, however, compensated with higher attack efficiency – 51% against 45%, as well as more direct points from attack – 66 against 50. The Bulgarians were more stable in reception (60% against 45% positive reception), while the Spanish had an advantage in serving with 6 aces against 1. Bulgaria made 8 service errors against 15 for the opponent, and the nationals also won more points from Spain's errors – 39 against 32.
Gradinarov was the top scorer for Bulgaria with 20 points. Dzheneve added 14, Veselinov scored 12, and Ganev finished with 11 points. For Spain, Monsa was outstanding with 31 points, and Barniya contributed 21.
Thus, Bulgaria finished second in Group B and will face Poland in the first semi-final. The match is on July 17 in Porto San Giorgio and begins at 18:00 Bulgarian time. In the other semi-final, Italy and France will play against each other.

photo: cev.eu