The Bulgarian national U18 men's team recorded a second victory at the European Championship, which started yesterday in Sofia and Plovdiv. Our team defeated Ukraine 3:0 (26-24, 25-20, 25-21) in 77 minutes, observed by the national coach of our men's team, Kiko Blengini. The former men's coach Radostin Stoychev was also in the hall. Desislava Velichkova opted for the same starting lineup as on the first day: Petyo Ivanov, Nikolay Nikolaev, Jasmin Velichkov, Ivan Uzunov, Kristian Ivanov, Konstantin Manolev, and libero Dimitar Dobrev.
This time, the aces for the hosts were more than yesterday - 4, but we made a total of 26 unforced errors, as well as only 6 points from blocks, including two each by Nikolay Nikolaev and Petyo Ivanov. As yesterday, Jasmin Velichkov was the most productive player, scoring 16 points (including one ace), while Konstantin Manolev added 12 points (2 blocks). Georgi Salparov again played minutes after having to replace captain Petyo Ivanov, whom the Ukrainians 'broke' on serve.

At the beginning of the match, the Bulgarians started with a flurry and accumulated an 8-point lead. After the 17th point, the opponent regrouped and managed to close a significant part of the gap, which narrowed to three points. Hesitant receptions and attacks followed again until the end of the game, when our team had the first set point. We only managed to close the set on the second rotation with 26:24.

The second set started evenly, and at times the Ukrainians even led by two points. A series of good serves and attacks followed, allowing us to turn the score to a two-point lead in our favor. This set, our team was more concentrated towards its end and closed it with a comfortable lead.
The Ukrainians put up resistance in the third set as well, but they weakened their serve, and this helped us to a slight lead at the beginning of the third set 11:8. With excellent blocking, we added two more points. A series of 3 points for the Ukrainians followed, which forced our staff to call a timeout. After it, the opponent managed to reduce the lead to 1 point after a counterattack. An equalization followed, and Georgi Salparov again came in for Manolev. We intensified our serve to take a 2-point lead. Manolev spiked for the last point in the set and the match 25:21.
After the match, the national team players congratulated their teammate Deyan Marinov, who is celebrating his birthday today.

Tomorrow (July 12), our boys will play against Austria, again at 5:30 PM.

Photos: Nikolay Varadinov and BFV (CEV.EU)