Maccabi XT (Haifa), led by former national coach Ivan Petkov, continues to top the standings in the Israeli women's volleyball championship. The team achieved its fourth victory since the start of the season, after defeating Maccabi (Nazareth) with a score of 3:0 (25:17, 25:15, 25:23).
The fourth-round match took place in the "Romema" hall in Haifa, and the hosts needed 71 minutes of playing time to secure the win.
Bulgarian national setter Lora Kitipova started as a regular and remained on the court for all three sets. She finished with one point from attack and received an individual rating of 7.3 according to the Data Volley system - the highest among the winning team's players.
Maccabi Haifa is led by Bulgarian coach Ivan Petkov, and his staff also includes our compatriot Lazar Lazarov and V. Todorov.
The most effective scorer for the hosts was Gali Kostinski with 13 points, followed by Sara Sakradjiya and Dana Cohen with 12 each. Yunieska Robles Batista added 11 points.
Maccabi Haifa had a significant advantage in attack, scoring 52 points from attack against 30 for the guests. The hosts finished with 47% success rate in this element against 33% for Nazareth.
The play of Ivan Petkov's team was particularly decisive in the second set, when the hosts achieved 61% attack efficiency and scored 20 points from attack. In the third part, the guests offered more serious resistance, but Maccabi Haifa maintained its advantage and finished the match without losing a set.
For Maccabi Nazareth, the most effective scorer was Julinies Regalado Bravo with 15 points, and Edisleydis Reyes Mora added 10.
After the success, Maccabi XT (Haifa) remains at the top of the standings with 13 points from five played matches. The team has four wins and one defeat, suffered after a five-set battle, with a set difference of 14:4.
In second place is Ramat Aviv with 10 points from four matches, followed by Maccabi Ashdod with 8 points from three matches. Both pursuers are still undefeated, but have played fewer matches than the leader.
For the opponent Maccabi Nazareth, the situation is fundamentally different. The team remains in the penultimate, tenth place, without a single point after four defeats and a set difference of 2:12.
Thus, the Bulgarian presence in Maccabi Haifa continues to be part of the team's successful start, which currently holds the first position in the Israeli championship.