Bulgarian national Denislav Bardarov and his Istanbul Büyükşehir Belediyespor were very close to a major surprise in the Turkish Efeler League, but ultimately conceded at home to leader Ziraat Bank (Ankara) with a 2:3(16:25,24:26,25:19,25:22,11:15) defeat in a match from the penultimate 25th round of the regular season.

The hosts showed character after falling behind 0:2 in sets, but managed to come back into the match and force a tie-break. However, the class and greater experience of the visitors prevailed in the decisive moments.

Bardarov played a strong match for his team and finished with 20 points, recording 3 aces, 1 block, 57% positive reception, and 62% attack efficiency. Bradley Gunter, who has played in the Bulgarian championship, also made a very solid contribution, adding 23 points, but even that was not enough for more than one point in the standings.

For the winners, Tomasz Fornal was the top scorer with 24 points, Jonas Jokela contributed 17, and Dick Kooy scored 14 points.
Istanbul BB trailed Ziraat Bank in attack (55 to 63 points) and reception (45% versus 52%), which proved crucial for the final outcome. Despite this, the hosts compensated with better blocking (11 to 5), but committing more errors than their opponent (26 to 31) was not enough to tip the scales in their favor.

After this match, Istanbul BB remains stable in 12th place in the provisional standings with 6 wins, 18 losses, and 22 points. Ziraat Bank is already the confirmed winner of the regular season and leads with 22 wins, 2 losses, and 64 points.