There was an assessment of the current national team that sounded quite extreme – that without the brothers Aleksandar and Simeon Nikolov, Bulgaria would be a team of average European level. After the first three matches of EuroVolley, the statistics at least show how enormous the influence of the two is on the game of the world vice-champions.
Aleksandar Nikolov is #1 among the top scorers of the championship after Bulgaria's three matches. The outside hitter has 63 points in 10 played sets – an average of 6.3 per set. He is followed by Oleh Plotnytskyi from Ukraine with 53 and Alexandru Rata from Romania with 52 points.

Even more categorical is Alex's superiority in attack. The Bulgarian is the leader with 54 successful attacks, or an average of 5.4 per set. The second-placed Rata has 43, while Sam Deroo and Erik Röhrs have 38 each.
Simeon Nikolov is also at the top in one of the most important individual rankings. The Bulgarian setter is #1 in setting efficiency with 57.83%. He is followed by the Ukrainian Serhii Yevstratov with 53.33%.
Moni is also second among servers with 10 aces in 10 sets.

Only Oleh Plotnytskyi is ahead of him, who, after his great performance against Bulgaria, has 15 aces. Alex Nikolov is also in the Top 5 – fifth with 6 direct points from service.

And that's not all from the Bulgarian presence among the leaders. Captain Alex Grozdanov is sixth among the best blockers with 8 successful blocks in 10 sets.
But perhaps the most curious Bulgarian name in the individual rankings is another – Zhasmin Velichkov.
The nominal outside hitter, who was retrained as a libero in the national team, is second among the best receivers at the European Championship. Velichkov has 49.18% perfect reception from 61 received serves. He is only preceded by the Ukrainian Oleksandr Boiko with 53.12% from 64 receptions. The third-placed Ruben Schott from Germany is far behind – 24.32% from 74 receptions.

This makes Velichkov's performance even more impressive. Just a few weeks ago, he was used as a libero for the first time in a friendly match against the Czech Republic in Samokov.

Until then, we knew him primarily as an outside hitter, and Gianlorenzo Blengini's experiment is obviously gradually becoming a real solution for the national team.
And if the numbers for the Nikolov brothers confirm something we already knew – how much Bulgaria depends on their individual quality – those of Zhasmin Velichkov reveal something significantly more unexpected. Bulgaria may have found a solution for a position that until very recently was not even the main position of the player himself.
After three matches, Alex Nikolov is #1 in points and successful attacks, Simeon Nikolov is #1 among setters and #2 in serving, Alex Grozdanov is in the Top 6 for blocking, and Zhasmin Velichkov is #2 in reception. The latter is the statistic that we probably least expected before the start of EuroVolley.

photos: Nikolay Varadinov