The Bulgarian Women's U21 national volleyball team lost its most important match in the European qualifications for EuroVolley 2026, which took place in Sofia. Our girls succumbed to Serbia with a 1:3 set score (25:22, 20:25, 13:25, 16:25) in the decisive match that determined who would qualify directly for the championship. Thus, the Serbians secured their place among the best on the continent, and Bulgaria will have to hope to be among the two best second-placed teams to retain a chance of participation.
Good start and bitter turnaround
The match started excellently for our team, who took a 1:0 lead in sets after a 25:22 win. Dragan Nesic's team controlled the first set, allowing the Serbians to equalize only at the very end (21:21), but with composure and good serving, they closed the set in their favor.
The second set started better for the guests from Serbia, who quickly took the lead. Nevertheless, the Bulgarians managed to close the gap and maintain parity until the 13th point, after which the Serbians again pulled ahead. Our team did not find the strength to make a comeback, and the score was leveled at 1:1.
Total collapse in reception
The third set proved catastrophic for the Bulgarian team. Reception was completely disrupted, forcing setter Guncheva to literally "run a half-marathon" across the court in an attempt to salvage situations. Attack also faltered, and errors from the service line became frequent. Only sporadic good attacking plays by Dudova prevented an even more desperate result. The set ended 13:25.
Last set without resistance
The fourth set offered nothing different. Our team never managed to take the lead, made error after error in reception, and attacks were sluggish and easily predictable. The Serbians, on the other hand, steadily built up their block, which often stopped our attempts to organize effective attacks. At 10:20, the match was practically decided and was being played out. By the end, Bulgaria managed to score only 6 points before another poor reception brought match point for Serbia, which was converted without problems.
The most effective player for our team was Iva Dudova with 18 points, but they were not enough for a comeback.
| Name | Points |
|---|---|
| Kaya Nikolova | 5 |
| Venessa Radeva | 5 |
| Margarita Guncheva | 4 |
| Elena Kolarova | 7 |
| Victoria Koeva (captain) | 7 |
| Iva Dudova | 18 |
| Maria Zlatanova | 8 |
Experts: "We haven't seen such helpless reception"
After the match, experts commented that they had rarely seen our national team look so helpless in reception. Problems were also evident in defense, and most alarmingly, there was a lack of equivalent substitutions to bring freshness. To top it all off, the U19 team, which could have provided reinforcements for the U21s, is currently playing in a world championship and was not available.
What's next?
Now it remains for Bulgaria to keep its fingers crossed to be among the two best second-placed teams from the qualifications, which will also get a quota for EuroVolley 2026. The task does not look easy, but hopes have not yet died out.
photo: BFV
