The Bulgarian men's national volleyball team played a poor match, mainly in attack, against one of the current top teams in the world – Slovenia. Our opponents took what was theirs after playing the entire match with concentration, managing to gain new valuable points for the ranking, which could qualify them for participation in the Olympic Games in Paris next month.
Our lineup was the same, with the only change made by coach Blengini at the opposite hitter position – replacing the left-handed Dimitar Dimitrov with Denis Karyagin: Simeon Nikolov, Denis Karyagin, Georgi Tatarov, Asparuh Asparuhov, Alex Grozdanov, Iliya Petkov, and libero Martin Bozhilov.
The beginning of the match was point for point until 7:7, after which Bulgaria opened a minimal lead. Slovenia managed to equalize at 13:13, and in turn, took the lead. However, Bulgaria also equalized the points at 17:17. The even play continued to dominate in these minutes, right up to the very end of the set. Ties at 19:19 and 22:22 gave our young team real chances to lead in sets against one of the best teams in the world, but elementary mistakes at the end of the set cost them its loss – Slovenia's captain ended the dispute in this opening part after a precise tip into our court for 25:22 and 1:0.
The second set started evenly again, maintaining the tied score until 6:6, after which Slovenia pulled slightly ahead by 2 points. This lead continued until the middle of the set, when we equalized at 13:13. However, our good play in this set ended there, as the Slovenians again forged a lead, which swelled thanks to errors on our side. Even Gianlorenzo Blengini's timeouts and player rotations did not yield the desired result. Bulgaria finished this part disastrously, being routed by their opponent with a score of 25:14.
The third set started with a small lead for Slovenia, but the "Lions" equalized the score at 5:5. Our opponents today, however, once again took the lead in the score, and in these minutes we managed to equalize the points once more. Although seemingly more tired than us, the Slovenian team controlled the rhythm on the court. Nevertheless, the Bulgarian volleyball players reached a new tie – 17:17. Unfortunately, this was also the last serious resistance for our team in this match. Slovenia quickly opened a 4-point lead due to their good serving game, and closed the match after 25:21 for a clear 3:0 set victory.
This was our last match on Japanese soil in the city of Fukuoka. Our team recorded a tough 3:2 victory over Iran, but also suffered 3 losses – by 3:1 against Poland and Germany, as well as today against Slovenia.
For Bulgaria, the last tournament of the Volleyball Nations League is ahead, which will be played precisely on Slovenian territory – the arena for the volleyball battles will be "Arena Stožice" in the capital Ljubljana. The matches are against Turkey, Italy, Cuba, and Argentina on June 18, 20, 21, and 22 respectively. Our opponents are extremely tough – their current form in the tournament also shows this.
Denis Karyagin became the top scorer in our team, giving an interview to the international volleyball channel. The universal attacker was predictably disappointed, but mentioned that there is no room for despondency, as tough matches are still ahead.
Bulgaria has a lot of work to do before fully shaping its volleyball identity – all things that are on the agenda for the coaching staff, led by Gianlorenzo Blengini.
