The Bulgarian national volleyball team showed strong play in the first two sets, continued to hold steady from the beginning of the fourth until its middle, but this was more than insufficient to celebrate a positive result in the Japanese city of Fukuoka against our old acquaintance - Germany. The "Bundesteam" had all its experienced players in its squad, which further tipped the scales in their favor.
Bulgaria started with our well-known lineup: Simeon Nikolov, Dimitar Dimitrov, Georgi Tatarov, Asparuh Asparuhov, Alex Grozdanov, Iliya Petkov, and libero Martin Bozhilov.
The first set started evenly - point for point, but after the middle of the set, the Germans were the more concentrated team on the court. In this way, the "Bundesteam" maintained a small but steady lead. Today's match did not start well for our starting opposite hitter Dimitar Dimitrov. The left-hander was replaced by the universal attacker Denis Karyagin, who came in adequately. The Germans reached set point at 21:24, but nevertheless, our boys did not give up chasing their opponent, managing to equalize - 24:24. In this way, our "lions" saved 3 set points, but on their fourth attempt, Germany managed to close the set at 24:26.
Despite the negative outcome of the first set, Bulgaria continued its upward trend in the second, where it started with a minimal lead. Towards the middle of the set, Germany managed to turn things in their favor at 15:13, but the "lions" immediately responded to the challenge, equalizing the score several times. Our more confident play in this set was confirmed at its end, with two consecutive blocks by Asparuh Asparuhov, one by Denis Karyagin, and effective serves by Iliya Petkov bringing a deserved turnaround and victory in the set - 25:22 and 1:1.
The third set also started point for point until 4:4, after which the Germans built and held a lead, starting at 5:9. The advantage continued to materialize at a faster pace, which prompted our head coach Gianlorenzo Blengini to gradually substitute his starting players to catch their breath before the decisive fourth set. Logically, given our opponents' lead, the set ended with a convincing score of 16:25, which restored the "Bundesteam's" lead in the match to 1:2 sets.
The fourth set started better for Bulgaria, as we gradually forged a minimal lead, which we maintained in the range of 3-4 points. Unfortunately, Germany equalized the score at 10:10, thanks to the stars who appeared at the end of the previous set - opposite hitter Georg Grozer and setter Lukas Kampa. Our opponent even took the lead, and we had no answer in those minutes. Our hesitant play continued to dominate the court, and the "Bundesteam" was just waiting for that - methodically and surely increasing their lead over our boys. Bulgaria finished the match with an attack out by Denis Karyagin, who also set the final score in the set and the match - 16:25 and a new loss with 1:3 sets.
It is noticeable that our team is starting to show better defensive play, which is usually our "Achilles' heel". Unfortunately, again too many unforced direct errors deprived our "lions" of a better outcome in the match. Coach Gianlorenzo Blengini failed to make the right substitutions and time them correctly, which ultimately contributed to the negative end of the match with the "Bundesteam".
Iliya Petkov was interviewed by a reporter from the international volleyball media, with the middle blocker acknowledging the errors and inconsistency in our play. Finally, Iliya also called on the fan community in our country to continue their support.
Bulgaria's next match in Fukuoka is tomorrow, June 7, against the team of Iran at the early hour of 06:00. You can watch the match live on Max Sport.
