The Bulgarian U20 men's national team suffered its first loss at the European Championship, which is being held in Greece and Serbia. The team led by Miroslav Zhivkov conceded a comeback and lost to Italy with1:3 (25:15, 21:25, 20:25, 21:25)in their 4th match of Group II of the tournament, played this evening in the "T9 Kostakioi" hall in Arta (Greece). After a strong start to the match, our team showed promise for another victory, but... a collapse followed in all elements. To top it all off, the power went out for more than an hour. Even after this forced break, our team could not recover and stage a comeback. The start of the fourth set was for Bulgaria with 6:3 and 10:5. However, the Italians not only equalized but also took the lead at 14:13. Coach Michele Zanin's team established a serious lead at 18:14.
Despite the defeat, we maintain real chances for qualifying for the Final Four of EuroVolley 2024, as the Bulgarians are second in the temporary group standings with 9 points after 3 wins and 1 loss, the same as Italy, but with a worse set ratio. The current leader is the Israeli team with 4 wins from 4 matches and 12 points.
Tomorrow, Bulgaria will play against the hosts from Greece. The match is at 8:00 PM Bulgarian time.
The most effective players for Bulgaria were Kristian Titriyski with 11 points (2 blocks, 1 ace, and 44% attack efficiency - +2) and Alexander Kandez with 10 points (1 ace, 41% attack efficiency, and 50% positive reception - +1).
For the Italian team, Tommaso Barotto was outstanding with an impressive 30 points (1 ace, 5 blocks, and 62% attack efficiency) for the win.
The Bulgarian team started with the following lineup: Simeon Nikolov, Stiliyan Delibosov, Alexander Kandez, Tomislav Rusev, Zhasmin Velichkov, and Kristiyan Titriyski, with Konstantin Chipev as libero. The coach of the men's national team of Bulgaria, Gianlorenzo Blengini, was also present at the match.
photos: Nikolay Varadinov
