The Bulgarian U16 national team started its participation in the 2025 CEV U16 Women's Volleyball European Championship with a dramatic five-set victory against Ukraine. The match took place in theOlimpik Park Feti Borova Hall, with our girls prevailing with a3:2 set score (21-25, 25-19, 25-22, 19-25, 15-12).
🏐 Match Analysis
The Bulgarians started hesitantly, losing the first set 21-25, but quickly mobilized and showed excellent play in the next two, which they won 25-19 and 25-22. Strong serving and a stable block were key to the comebacks. However, the fourth part again went to the Ukrainians after a series of our errors, which led to a decisive tie-break.
In the fifth set, the national team demonstrated character and fighting spirit, imposed their will with a 15-12 score, and deservedly recorded their first victory in the tournament. Bulgaria's coach,Evelina Tsvetanova, skillfully rotated the squad and maintained a high tempo of play throughout the match.
🌟Top scorers in the entire match:
| 🏆 | Name | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🥇 | Orisia Kishta | Ukraine | 18 |
| 🥈 | Antonia Stanislavova | Bulgaria | 17 |
| 🥉 | Kateryna Khrynko | Ukraine | 13 |
🇧🇬 Bulgaria statistics:
| No | Name | Total points (Tot) | BP | W-L | Attacks (attempts) | Attack errors | Successful blocks | Serves (attempts) | Service errors | Aces |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Adriana Aleksieva | 10 | 3 | 8 | 17 | 1 | 1 | 11 | - | 2 |
| 4 | Maria Atanasova | 6 | 3 | 2 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 4 | - | - |
| 6 | Violina Dimitrova | 1 | 1 | - | 4 | 1 | - | - | - | 1 |
| 7 | Elitsa Georgieva | 4 | 4 | - | 13 | 2 | - | 4 | 1 | 2 |
| 10 | Darina Ivanova | 9 | 2 | 1 | 22 | 5 | 3 | 16 | 2 | 1 |
| 12 | Krasimira Garova | 1 | 1 | -2 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 2 | - |
| 19 | Adriana Goleva | 9 | 2 | -6 | 45 | 6 | 4 | 17 | 3 | 1 |
| 20 | Antonia Stanislavova | 17 | 9 | 15 | 20 | 1 | 4 | 16 | - | 3 |
| 21 | Anna Shuleva | 11 | 4 | 9 | 33 | 1 | 3 | 10 | - | 1 |
Tomorrow our girls play against France at 3 PM.
Other matches in Group I
Poland started with a victory over France3:1 , although they lost the first set with15:25The Polish women compete in Group I in Albania, along with Italy, who are champions from the previous edition.
Spain and Italy did not lose a single set. The Spanish literally crushed the hosts from Albania (8 points for the Albanians in the second set), and the Italians had a brief difficulty only in the first part against Lithuania.
Briefly about Group II
All matches in Kosovo ended with3:0The hosts performed the weakest, losing to Montenegro in just 57 minutes, scoring only 6 points in the last set.
Hungary, Turkey and the Czech Republic also started with victories.
Conclusions after the first day
Bulgaria started with a difficult but important victory, which shows mental resilience and ambition. This gives hope for a good performance and a place in the eliminations.
The big favorites (Italy, Spain, Turkey) confirmed their class without losing a set, but our girls showed that they can also be a factor.
