Maritsa (Plovdiv) demonstrated excellent character and recorded their first victory in the group stage of the Women's Volleyball Champions League this season. The players of head coach Ahmetcan Erşimşek outplayed the French Levallois Paris Saint Cloud with3:1 (25:22, 18:25, 25:22, 25:15)in their third match from Group E's schedule, played in the "Kolodruma" hall.
With this success, the Maritsa players gathered4 pointsand temporarily equalized atsecond placein the standings with Polish Developres (Rzeszów), who are yet to visit the leader Palmberg (Schwerin). The French team remains in fourth position with2 points.
The match was watched live by the legend of Bulgarian and world footballHristo Stoichkov, who supported the "yellow-blues" from the stands of "Kolodruma".
Game by game
Maritsa started the match extremely focused and with a good serve made it difficult for the guests to receive. This allowed the hosts to take the lead with12:7. Levallois managed to equalize at16:16, which forced Ahmetcan Erşimşek to call a timeout. The tie remained until22:22, but a block by Boryana Angelova and a break point with an attack by Iva Dudova brought two set points. The very first one was converted after another successful block by Angelova –25:22.
In the second game, Levallois took an early lead and gradually increased their advantage to21:15, after which they equalized the score in the match at 25:18.
In the third set, Maritza once again raised their game, especially on serve and in defense. The 'yellow-blues' pulled ahead with 8:4, maintained a stable lead until 22:17, and despite an attempted comeback by the Frenchwomen, they closed the set with a block-out by Vanessa Agbortabi for 25:22.
The psychological advantage gave Maritza a serious boost in the fourth set. After 9:8 they made an impressive run of 8 consecutive points on Borislava Saykova's serve – 17:8, which proved decisive. Until the end, Maritza dominated completely and finished the match with a convincing 25:15.
Top scorers
Top scorers in the match for Maritza
Iva Dudova – 24 points (top scorer in the match)
Borislava Saykova – 14 points
Vanessa Agbortabi – 13 points
Victoria Koeva – 11 points
For the guests, Magdalena Bukowska finished with the most points - 17.
With this success, Maritza took an important first step in the Champions League group, showing that they remain a factor on the European stage this season as well.
photos: cev.eu
