Kladno, with Bulgarian receiver Georgi Petrov in its squad, achieved a dramatic 3:2 (25:21, 21:25, 25:22, 23:25, 15:10) away victory against Dukla (Liberec) in a match from the sixth round of the Czech men's CEZ Extraliga.
The match in "Dukla" hall lasted 144 minutes, with the visitors twice taking the lead, but the hosts managed to equalize before Kladno imposed its will in the decisive fifth set.
Georgi Petrov, wearing jersey number 17 for Kladno, finished with 4 points, of which 2 were in attack and 2 from blocks. The Bulgarian receiver made 2 out of 12 attacks (17% success rate), and also recorded one reception.
The most effective player for the winners was Jan Svoboda with 24 points, of which 20 were in attack, 1 ace, and 3 blocks. Alvaro Rubio Jimeno added 17 points, and Lukáš Neumann contributed 14.
For Dukla, Castañeda González scored the most points – 18, while Jere Mäkinen finished with 14, and Štěpán Svoboda added 13.
Kladno showed greater efficiency in attack, scoring 62 points against 51 for Dukla. The visitors finished with a 41% success rate against 38% for the hosts.
The battle at the block was also contested, with Kladno having a minimal advantage with 13:12 successful blocks. Two of them were by Georgi Petrov.
In terms of serves, however, Dukla had an advantage with 9 aces against 7 for Kladno. The hosts made 11 service errors, while the visitors finished with 14.
The first set was controlled by Kladno, who led 8:6 and 16:9. Dukla reduced their deficit to 20:21, but the visitors managed to close the set 25:21.
The hosts responded in the second set and equalized the score after 25:21. Kladno took the lead again after 25:22 in the third set, but Dukla won the fourth 25:23 and sent the match to a tie-break.
In the decisive fifth set, Kladno demonstrated greater concentration, took a 7:4 lead, extended their advantage to 10:6, and concluded the match 15:10.
With this victory, Kladno added two points to their tally in the Czech championship, while Dukla remained with one despite the home defeat.