Levski Sofia defeated CSKA 3:0 (29:27, 25:20, 25:23) in the first semifinal of the Bulgarian Supercup and qualified for tomorrow's final. The champions await the winner of the match between Burgas' Neftochimic and Dea Sport, which is later today. The national team coach Gianlorenzo Blengini, as well as the president of the Bulgarian Volleyball Federation Lubomir Ganev, were present at the match in the "Levski Sofia" hall.
Levski started with the following lineup: Stoil Palev, Julius Firkal, Svetoslav Gotsev, Todor Skrimov, Livan Osorio, and Julius Firkal with libero Damyan Kolev. The "Reds" opted for the following lineup: Lyubomir Agontsev, Nikolay Penchev, Todor Kostov, Strahinja Brzaković, Hristiyan Velikov, and Stefan Chavdarov with captain Martin Bozhilov as libero.
The biggest intrigue was in the first set, when the Levski team was trailing 20:22 against the symbolic guests CSKA. Then, new signing Todor Skrimov stepped up to the service line, making two consecutive aces (3 in total for the match), which forced coach Popov to call a timeout.
After a powerful attack by Julius Firkal, the "Blues" reached their first set point. The tables turned, and in turn, CSKA reached set point at 25:24. The "Blues" won the set after an out-of-bounds attack by Penchev from CSKA.
Again after an out-of-bounds hit by Penchev, the "Blues" closed out the second set, in which the match went point for point until the middle of the set. Then the hosts took a comfortable lead, which they maintained until the end of the set.
In the third set, CSKA started better and led 4:2, when Levski's setter Stoil Palev had strong minutes, leading to a turnaround in the score with a drop shot and a successful block.
The first technical timeout came at 8:5 for Levski. The champions continued to maintain a two-three point difference. Towards the end of the set, CSKA was on the verge of a comeback from 18:21, but Levski showed stronger nerves in the decisive moments and won 25:23.
For Levski, Livan Osorio finished with the most points - 13, with Todor Skrimov and Vladimir Garkov both finishing with 12.
The top scorer in the match and for CSKA was Strahinja Brzaković with 23 points.
