The Bulgarian national team started its participation in the World Volleyball Championship in Qatar with a victory. Ivan Stanev's boys defeated Egypt 3:0 (25:22, 25:23, 25:18) in their first match of the preliminary phase.
Despite the clear result, the success did not come as easily as the three won sets suggest. Bulgaria managed to build a good lead several times, but allowed the opponent to melt it away and bring back the intrigue.
The first set will also be remembered for its unusually long duration. The game was interrupted twice for about 10 minutes due to technical problems. Thus, the volleyball players spent more than 40 minutes on the court just in the opening part. The Bulgarians, however, maintained concentration in the decisive moments and closed the set at 25:22.
A similar picture emerged in the second set. Bulgaria again had its strong periods, but allowed Egypt to stay close in the score. In the end, our nationals were more stable and won 25:23.
In the third set, the Bulgarian team no longer gave the opponent serious opportunities to get back into the match. The nationals asserted their superiority and reached 25:18, thus forming the final 3:0.
The captain Milko Bagdasarov was above all in the Bulgarian squad, finishing with 16 points. Richiu added another 10 points. For Egypt, the top scorer was Gabal Jr. with 14 points.
| Indicator | Egypt | Bulgaria |
|---|---|---|
| Attack | 32 | 37 |
| Block | 9 | 6 |
| Serve | 5 | 9 |
| Opponent errors | 17 | 23 |
| Total points | 63 | 75 |
| Digs | 45 | 42 |
| Reception | 61 | 58 |
| Successful attack sets | 77 | 80 |
The statistics show where Bulgaria's advantage came from. The nationals scored 37 points from attack against 32 for Egypt, but the most significant difference was from the serve – 9:5 aces for the Bulgarian team. The "Pharaohs", on the other hand, had a serious advantage in blocking – 9:6. Errors were also a significant factor for the final result. Bulgaria received 23 points after opponent inaccuracies, while Egypt took 17 in this way. Thus, the Bulgarians finished the match with 75 points against 63 for the opponent. In elements outside of direct scoring, Egypt had a slight advantage in digs – 45 against 42, as well as in reception – 61 against 58. Bulgaria is ahead in setting with 80 against 77. The second referee of the match was one of the established world referees – Juraj Mokry from Slovakia. Bulgaria's next match is against Spain tomorrow at 5:00 PM Bulgarian time. The Spaniards lost their first match against Turkey 0:3 and will face Bulgaria in search of a mandatory success. For the nationals, the task will be to maintain a strong serve and attack efficiency, but at the same time to limit the moments of relaxation, which against Egypt several times allowed the opponent to erase the accumulated difference.
