Bulgaria missed a golden opportunity to be among the top four at the U19 Men's World Championship in Tashkent.
Our national team took a 2-0 lead against Spain in a quarter-final match, thanks to their phenomenal blocking and defensive play. The familiar scenario from the match against the USA followed, but this time Fortune was on the side of the Iberians.
Bulgaria started with the following lineup:Nikolaev, Velichkov, Marinov, Uzunov, Konstantinov, Totkov, and Tikholov.
Our team won the first set thanks to better blocking and stable defense. Spain dominated slightly in attack and serve, but failed to capitalize on this for a win. The game was even, with a balance between the elements, decided by small details \u2013 mostly in favor of Bulgaria in blocking and defense. The set lasted 45 minutes.
With 12 to 3 blocks in favor of Bulgaria, our team closed the second set, with the difference reaching 8 points at 18:10.
In the third setthe scenario from the match against the USA followed \u2013 we led briefly, but after 8:8, nothing went our way. Concentration dropped and logically the Spaniards took one set back, and with a significant difference.
And the fourth part offered more of the same:lack of concentration, inability to finish attacks, the block wasn't working. The Spaniards started to pick off our attackers, which forced the coaching staff to make substitutions. Konstantinov was replaced, and then Uzunov, when the score ballooned to a six-point lead for Spain. After an out-of-bounds attack, Velichkov also sat on the bench. The reserves could not stand up to the aggressive play of the Iberians, who logically closed the set with the same score as in the third part.
The game didn't go well in the tie-break eitherwhere Spain took an early 1:4 lead after two errors by Konstantinov. A block against Velichkov and a 'drawer' ace made the score 2:6. Thanks to Velichkov, we managed to get within two points of the opponent, who was the first to reach 8 points for a side change. The inability to finish attacks on free balls made the difference 7:12, which practically ended the match. Bulgaria managed to add only one more point to their tally, and a block-out for match point and an ace finished the rest in favor of Spain.
Thus, Miroslav Zhivkov's boys will play matches for 5th-8th place distribution.
