Aleksandar Nikolov continues to be among the top scorers in the Italian SuperLega. After the third round, the Bulgarian international ranks fourth in the scoring charts with 52 points, and in terms of average points per set, he is third among the top ten in the standings.
The official statistics from Lega Pallavolo show that the outside hitter for Cucine Lube Civitanova scored his 52 points in just 10 played sets, averaging 5.20 points per set.
Ahead of him in total points are Nathan Wounembaina (Cuneo) with 65 points from 14 sets, Barthélémy Chinenyeze (Milano) with 64 from 11 sets, and Oleh Plotnytskyi (Perugia) with 61 from 13 sets.
Interestingly, Nikolov has a higher average points per set than the three players immediately ahead of him in total points, with the exception of Chinenyeze, whose indicator is 5.82. Also ahead of the Bulgarian in points per set is Théo Faure from Trento with 5.44.
Aleksandar Nikolov is also currently the highest-scoring outside hitter in the league.
In the last round, the Bulgarian scored 20 points in Lube's 3:1 (25:21, 21:25, 25:21, 25:22) away win against Cuneo and was named the MVP of the match. Lube also finished the round as the team with the highest attack efficiency – 59.1%.
Simeon Nikolov second in Fantasy SuperLega
The younger of the Nikolov brothers also found a place among the top performers of the third round, but in a different ranking. Simeon Nikolov took second place in Fantasy SuperLega – the official virtual game of the Italian championship – with 41.43 points according to its scoring system. Only Simone Porro from Milano is ahead of the Bulgarian setter with 43.39 points, and Riccardo Sbertoli from Trento is third with 40.81.
In the actual match against Cuneo, Simeon Nikolov scored 5 points.
Nine aces for Luca Porro and a historic achievement for Sebastián Solé
The third round also offered several impressive individual achievements. Luca Porro from Modena scored 9 aces in the 3:1 (22:25, 25:16, 25:16, 28:26) victory over Verona. His performance ranked among the strongest serving achievements in the history of the SuperLega regular season. Modena finished the match with a total of 12 aces, nine of which were by Porro. His teammate Gabriele Di Martino distinguished himself with 7 successful blocks and a total of 12 points. With this, the middle blocker reached the milestone of 300 career blocks in the Italian elite.
Another historic achievement was recorded by Sebastián Solé. The middle blocker for Perugia reached 800 successful blocks in the SuperLega in the 3:0 (25:16, 25:17, 25:22) victory over Monza.
The top scorer of the third round was Alessandro Bovolenta from Piacenza with 23 points, 22 of which were scored in attack, in the win over Cisterna.
Lube with three wins, Perugia leads with a game in hand
After the third round, Cucine Lube Civitanova has a perfect record of 9 points from three wins. Trento and Piacenza have the same record, while Perugia leads with 11 points. However, the champions have played one more match, as their match against Padova from the 11th round was brought forward to October 28 due to Perugia's upcoming participation in the FIVB Volleyball Men's Club World Championship, which will take place from December 15 to 20 in Poland.

photo: Nikolay Varadinov