In a friendly match played today at the packed Ariake Arena in Tokyo, the Japanese team (No. 5 in the world ranking) defeated Bulgaria (No. 15) 3:0 (25:20, 26:24, 25:20). This was part of the preparation of both teams for the upcoming World Championship in the Philippines, which starts on September 12. The control match was the 62nd encounter between the two teams – the historical balance is now even – 31 wins for Bulgaria and 31 for Japan. The "Samurai" were looking for revenge after a decisive 0:3 loss to our team in the group stage of the Nations League in June in Burgas.
The second set was the most contested, in which we even took the lead against the hosts.
All Bulgarian volleyball players took part in the match, and the starting lineup was as follows: Simeon Nikolov, Iliya Petkov, Asparuh Asparuhov, Alex Grozdanov, Georgi Tatarov, Aleksandar Nikolov and libero Damyan Kolev.

First set

The Japanese started with the following lineup: Miuara, Lari, Takahashi, Ishikawa, Eiro and Onodera, libero – Yamamoto. The hosts started confidently with an ace by Miuara (3:1), and after a run by Takahashi, they took a 9:6 lead. Bulgaria responded with an accurate serve by Nikolov to equalize at 15:15. In the decisive rallies, Miuara once again took charge with a strong serve and an ace for 21:19. At 24:20, a block by Onodera closed the set – 25:20.

Second set

The start was even – 8:8 after an ace by Ishikawa. Bulgaria took the lead for the first time in the match at 13:11, but after a timeout, the hosts turned it around to 16:13. Our team managed to equalize – 17:17, but a run by Takahashi and attack errors led to a Japanese advantage of 23:20. At 24:22, a missed serve by Miuara followed, and the Bulgarians equalized at 24:24. However, a block by Onodera once again decided the set – 26:24.

Third set

Japan made substitutions – Oya and Nishimoto appeared on the court. Serves by Miuara and attacks by Ishikawa gave them an 8:5 lead. Bulgaria remained close (19:17), but another run by Takahashi and an ace made the score 23:19. A service error by our team brought match point, realized at 25:20. In the third set, Preslav Petkov came in as a middle blocker in place of Iliya Petkov.

By agreement between the two teams, a fourth set, the so-called "golden" set, was also played, which ended with a decisive 25:15 for Japan. In this part, our staff gave an opportunity to play to those who had little playing time.
The most productive player for the Bulgarian team was Aleksandar Nikolov with 16 points (50% attack efficiency, 1 ace and 2 blocks). Our players performed well in blocking, scoring 9 points from this element. However, the serve proved to be a problem, with 21 errors made.

Tomorrow our team will play another friendly match with the hosts.

After the match, the spectators greeted the 24th birthday of Ran Takahashi, who shared that he had never celebrated in front of so many spectators.

photos: Fumiya Kojima and Sozo Tsuchiya