The Bulgarian national U17 boys' team topped Group D of the World Championship in Qatar after achieving a second consecutive three-point victory. Ivan Stanev's boys overcame Spain's resistance with a 3:1 (31:29, 25:21, 18:25, 25:16) win, after starting with a clean sweep against Egypt the day before.
The match could have unfolded differently if the Bulgarians hadn't lost concentration at the beginning of the third set. It started after about a 12-minute break due to technical problems – something that also happened twice in the first set against Egypt.
Spain took a 15:12 lead in the first set, but after an ace by Sali, Bulgaria equalized at 15:15. The evenly matched battle continued until 21:21, when captain Milko Bagdasarov took responsibility in attack, and a Bulgarian block made the score 23:21. The first set point came at 24:22, but a true marathon followed. Bulgaria missed six opportunities to close the set before Bagdasarov secured the seventh chance, and an attack error by Spain brought the dramatic 31:29.
The second set also started evenly. After 10:10, Bulgaria gradually took the initiative, with middle blocker Rychiu making a very strong contribution. After a service error by the Spaniards, our lead reached 20:15. The opponent managed to capitalize on several Bulgarian errors and closed the gap to 23:21, but after the timeout, a block and a subsequent attack by Bagdasarov secured the first set point. Rychiu ended the dispute with a block for 25:21 and a 2:0 sets lead.
The prolonged technical timeout before the third set affected the Bulgarian team's concentration. Spain took advantage and led 5:1, and subsequently opened up a seven-point difference. The Bulgarians managed to reduce the deficit to four points, but couldn't find the strength for a comeback, and the Spaniards took the set 25:18.
Our national team came out transformed in the fourth set. The beginning was again even, but after the tenth point, Bulgaria stepped up the pace. Bagdasarov, Sali, and Rychiu started accumulating point after point, and an attack by Pavlov made the score 20:14.
In the final rallies, it was Ilov's moment. The Bulgarian middle blocker recorded three point-scoring blocks, with the last one bringing the first match point. Spain's subsequent attack out of bounds ended the match – 25:16 and 3:1 for Bulgaria.
Bulgaria had superiority in two of the main elements. The national team scored 51 points from attack against 47 for Spain and made 13 point-scoring blocks against 8 for the opponent. Both teams finished with 3 aces each, and Bulgaria received 32 points from opponent errors against 33 for the Spaniards. The total number of points scored in the match was 99:91 in favor of Bulgaria.
Captain Milko Bagdasarov was once again the leader of the Bulgarian team and finished as the top scorer in the match with 21 points. Sali added 14. For Spain, Monzo scored 15 points, and Pozzato finished with 12.
With two wins from two matches, Bulgaria took the lead in Group D and made an important step towards the direct eliminations of the World Championship. Bulgaria's next and final match in Group D is on August 24 against Turkey. The match in Doha starts at 5:00 PM.