The semifinals of the OUTRIGGER Big West volleyball championship in the USA have determined the final pair who will contend for the title. An extremely interesting clash with massive Bulgarian participation awaits us, as the teams of the University of Hawaii, where Kristian Titriyski plays, and Long Beach State, whose squad includes four Bulgarians - Moni Nikolov, Alex Kandev, Lazar Buchkov, and Georgi Binev - will face each other.
In the first semifinalon Friday, played at SimpliFi Arena in Stan Sheriff Center, top-seededLong Beach State left no chances for UC San Diego, winning convincingly 3:0(25-18, 25-23, 25-17) and qualified for the final for the fifth time in the last seven years.
In this match,Moni Nikolov shone with 9 points, setting a new Big West record for aces in a single season with a total of 90 (4 in the match) and finished with 35 assists, 4 attack points, 5 digs, and 1 block. With his 90 aces for the season, Nikolov is only 10 away from the NCAA single-season record set in 2011.
Alex Kandev also performed strongly with 15 points (1 block) and led the team in digs with 8.Georgi Binev entered briefly but did not score any points.
In the second semifinal, also played at SimpliFi Arena, second-seededUniversity of Hawaii prevailed over UC Irvine with a score of 3:1(25-21, 15-25, 25-21, 25-23). With this victory, the "Rainbow Warriors" avenged last year's loss at the same stage to the "Anteaters". The match was historic for Hawaii's coach, Charlie Wade, who recorded his 317th victory at the helm of the team, becoming the record holder in this metric.
Outstanding for Hawaii was freshman Adrien Roure with 18 points – a personal season record. Other good performances came from Finn Keany (10 points), Kurt Nusterer (6 points, 7 blocks), and Luis Salakanoko, who set a personal record with 7 blocks. Setter Tread Rosenthal finished with 40 assists.Kristian Titriyski was again not on the roster due to injury.We strongly hope to see him in the next match.
Thus, in the Big West Championship final, we can witness a direct "Bulgarian" clash, where, if Kristian Titriyski is available, he could face a powerful Bulgarian contingent in the Long Beach State squad.
The final is scheduled for Saturday, April 26, at 7:00 PM local time (Hawaii), which is Sunday, April 27, at 5:00 AM in Bulgaria.
A battle for the conference title with an exceptionally strong Bulgarian flavor is coming!
