Saint-Nazaire's team, where Bulgarian international Vladimir Garkov plays, achieved their second win of the season in the French League A. The team defeated Ajaccio at home 3:1 (25:22, 17:25, 25:22, 26:24) in a hard-fought match that lasted nearly two hours.

Match Flow

The hosts started confidently and took the first set with a minimal lead. Ajaccio, however, reacted excellently and equalized the score after a convincing second set. In the third and fourth sets, Saint-Nazaire showed more resilience in key moments and managed to close out the match 3:1, preventing a tie-break. The block advantage in decisive moments allowed the hosts to triumph at the end of the match (11:7 blocks in favor of Saint-Nazaire). This happened despite Saint-Nazaire's higher number of unforced errors, which gave away a total of 38 points against only 26 from the visitors.

Performance of the Bulgarian

Vladimir Garkov distinguished himself with 12 points — including 1 ace and 3 blocks. In reception, the Bulgarian receiver was almost flawless – 88% positive and 53% perfect reception, which laid the foundation for the team's stability.

In attack, however, his efficiency was lower – out of 27 attacks, Garkov made 6 errors and was blocked once, resulting in only 30% success rate in attack.

For the winners, the German international, opposite hitter Philipp John, shone, finishing with an impressive 25 points.
However, the MVP of the match was Nicolas Burel, with 14 points, 73% in attack, 73% efficiency, and 6(!) blocks.