The Bulgarian national team finished the group stage with a 0:3 (20:25, 25:27, 21:25) defeat to France in a match with no bearing on the final standings. Our team had secured first place before the last game. Nevertheless, the match provided important observations about the team's condition before the eliminations.
First set
France showed higher efficiency in serve and block, as well as the ability to capitalize on their opponent's errors. Bulgaria was stable in defense and reception, but failed to convert its game advantage into points. Velichkov was the most productive with 6 points, two more than France's best scorer so far - Novacik with 4.
Second set
The most contested part of the match ended 27:25 for France. Both teams demonstrated strong attack - France with 23 points, Bulgaria with 22. The difference came from blocking and especially from the serve - 4 aces for the hosts against none for Bulgaria. Noah Rossi's ace at 21:23 was particularly decisive, turning the momentum. Nevertheless, our team managed to equalize twice at the very end of the set (23:23, 24:24, 25:25). A block out ended the set, which lasted 27 minutes. In defense and reception, Bulgaria was again better, as well as in attack organization - 83 accurate distributions against 76 for France.
Third set
France took an early lead and never relinquished the initiative. Bulgaria managed to get close at 15:16 after an error by France's captain Noah Duflo Rossi, but a series of inaccuracies led to 17:22 and the match was played out to 21:25. The last point came after a missed serve by Marinski, who otherwise made a good contribution with this element.
Individual performances
The top scorer for France was Yokanovic with 11 points, followed by Novacik with 10. For Bulgaria, Nikolaev became the leading scorer with 8 points, as did Marinov. Velichkov, who started strong, was substituted after the first set, and Manolev, Mihovski, Marinski, and setter Petkov entered the game. Konstantinov also remained on the bench, again with the aim of preserving him for the eliminations. This evening, our opponent for the 1/8 final will become clear. For now, it seems likely to be the US team, but it is not excluded that the Colombian team could fight for fourth place in Group D.
| No. | Player Name | Position | Total Points | Attack Points | Block Points | Serve Points | Errors | Efficiency (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Nikolaev | Middle blocker | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | — | 4.76 |
| 7 | Marinov | Opposite hitter | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | — | 11.11 |
| 3 | Velichkov (c) | Outside Hitter | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | — | 0.00 |
| 19 | Manolev | Outside Hitter | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | — | -8.00 |
| 33 | Marinski | Opposite hitter | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | — | 4.17 |
| 17 | Konstantinov | Outside Hitter | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | — | 0.00 |
| 22 | Totkov | Middle blocker | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | — | 20.00 |
| 9 | Uzunov | Setter | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | -5.88 |
| 99 | Peychinov | Opposite hitter | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | -25.00 |
| 14 | Tikholov | Libero | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — |
| 20 | Petkov | Setter | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — |
| 21 | Mikhovski | Middle blocker | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | -33.33 |
