Maritsa (Plovdiv) played their second friendly match in Istanbul against the Turkish grand VakifBank (Istanbul), according to the official website of the Plovdiv team. The sparring took place in VakifBank's hall in the Turkish metropolis. The match was played in five full sets, which were won by the Istanbul grand with scores of 25:16, 25:19, 25:22, 25:19, 25:17.

The most effective players for Maritsa were Iva Dudova with 13 points, Borislava Saykova added 11, and Dobrina Hristoskova contributed 10.

For the Turkish team, Kiera Van Ryk was the top scorer with 19 points, while the daughter of Maritsa's academy director - Giuseppe Bosetti - Katerina finished with 7 points.

Maritsa thus concluded their friendly matches in Istanbul, after drawing 2:2 with Besiktas (Istanbul) yesterday. Maritsa also played in the Iva Vujosevic memorial tournament in Serbia, and before that, they played three friendly matches in Istanbul.

The champions have one more friendly match before the start of the season in the Bulgarian volleyball elite.