Our team finished this year's Nations League participation with a hard-fought victory.

Our women's national volleyball team played a much more valuable and stronger match today, showing less significant fluctuations in their game compared to their previous matches. Fortunately, despite the errors in this match, we ultimately secured the victory, as our opponent also made many mistakes.

Bulgaria started with the following lineup: Petya Barakova, Merelin Nikolova, Maria Yordanova, Miroslava Paskova (captain), Aleksandra Saykova, Maria Krivoshiyska, and libero Mila Pashkuleva.

The first set started evenly, with Bulgaria showing better play than yesterday. Our opponents, however, took an early 4:2 lead, after which our girls, in turn, pulled ahead to 8:6. In the middle of the set, the lead constantly changed hands, with both teams making quite a few errors but also demonstrating good defensive play, especially the Dominicans. During these minutes, both coaches on the court called timeouts to create tension for the opponent. The two teams continued to 'bite' at each other until 23:23, when the last timeout in the set was called by the Dominican team. After that, Merelin Nikolova made a service error, giving the first set point in the first part to the opponent. Our opposite hitter redeemed her mistake by spiking the ball into the Dominicans' court for 24:24. Our Caribbean opponent closed the set on their second opportunity, after making a successful block against Maria Yordanova 26:24 and 1:0.

Despite losing the first set, Bulgaria entered the second set better with a large dose of luck, we took a 2:0 lead after two 'drawer-style' aces by Maria Yordanova, which brought smiles back to our side of the court. After exchanging points, the Bulgarians were again the leading team, albeit with a minimal lead of 2 points. Our lead was forged primarily by our blonde sharp-shooter Merelin Nikolova, who has been playing well this summer with the national team. Unfortunately, in the middle of the set, the Dominican Republic managed to equalize at 13:13, which prompted our head coach Lorenzo Micelli to call a timeout. The absolute tie continued until 19:19, when the Dominicans took the lead for the first time in this part 20:19. Lorenzo Micelli took his second timeout in the set here. A poor reception on our side allowed the opponent to pull ahead by 2 points. Our Italian coach made a double substitution Margarita Guncheva and Iva Dudova came in for Merelin Nikolova and Petya Barakova, respectively. A nice block by us led to a new tie 22:22. Another 'drawer' ace, this time by Guncheva, and we led again, and in the next rally, a mistake by the Dominicans allowed our team to reach two consecutive set points at 24:22. Here, the opponent's coach called a timeout. The Dominican Republic saved the first opportunity to close the set, but on the second, their attack went high out, which meant only one thing 25:23 and 1:1 sets. Our 'Lionesses' deserved to win it, showing better play.

The third set started as the second one ended with better play from Bulgaria. Our team took a 4:1 lead, but the Dominican Republic turned the score around and led 6:5. Sensing that we were losing the initiative, Micelli called a timeout at 9:7 for our opponents. This paid off, as Bulgaria scored 4 consecutive points to take an 11:9 lead. Our lead swelled to 14:10, which prompted the Dominican Republic's coach to make a substitution. A sportsmanlike gesture from our opponents' libero was rewarded with a 'green card' the player admitted she hadn't touched the ball, which was also seen on video replay. Bulgaria increased its lead to 20:15 after an attack error by the Dominican opposite hitter. Their coach took his second timeout in the set at this point. Our opponent melted away much of our lead, and at 21:19, the Italian Micelli called a timeout for Bulgaria. Unfortunately, the Dominican Republic equalized at the most inconvenient moment at 22:22 after an ace on our side. Bulgaria managed to reach 2 set points in this part as well at 24:22. Dudova replaced Barakova for a higher block. Our 'Lionesses' managed to close this set on their first opportunity 25:22, 2:1 and a comeback for us in the match.

Bulgaria also took the lead at the start of the fourth set with 4:2, after Merelin Nikolova, who was playing a strong match, recorded an ace. The game again settled into a 'point-for-point' rhythm until 8:8, when the Dominican Republic took a 3-point lead for the first time in this set at 11:8. Lorenzo Micelli again made an unargued substitution, taking out his best attacker in a consecutive match, Merelin Nikolova, who was replaced by Iva Dudova. Bulgaria equalized to 13:13 after a good serve and counter-attack in the opponent's court. Iva Dudova's good serving streak allowed the 'Lionesses' to take the lead again in this set 15:13 and a new timeout for the Dominican coach. After that, the game was again tied, with our girls still maintaining a slight initiative. The score became 20:20 after a good attack by our Caribbean opponents. Bulgaria made a crucial block to take a 23:22 lead. Iva Dudova spiked the ball for 24:23 the first match point for our team, but it was immediately neutralized by the Dominicans. Our opponent, in turn, got a set point 25:24, which prompted our coach Lorenzo Micelli to call a timeout. Iva Dudova gave way to Merelin Nikolova, and Guncheva to Barakova. This did not yield the desired result, because the Caribbeans managed to win the set at 26:24, thereby equalizing the set score to 2:2 it was time for another tie-break.

The fifth decisive set started disastrously for Bulgaria the Dominican Republic quickly gained a 4:1 advantage. The set was halfway through at 8:5 for the opponent. Bulgaria, however, achieved a complete turnaround in the tie-break, taking a 10:9 lead, after Lorenzo Micelli had previously called and taken a timeout. Another tie on the court 11:11. A ball out after an attack by the Dominicans gave Bulgaria 2 match points at 14:12. A second timeout for Micelli, after our opponent neutralized the first match point. After a large dose of luck, our 'Lionesses' forged the victory after 15:13 in the tie-break 3:2 for Bulgaria. The victory should not mislead us, because our opponent did not play with a full squad, but it is still some consolation after the extremely shaky season in the tournament.

This was the last match in the Nations League for our women's national volleyball team this summer. We are sending off another edition of the tournament with mixed feelings, as our game was accompanied by numerous errors and fluctuations, which is not fitting for a team that has known each other for over 2 years. The mantra of youth should also be forgotten, as we are definitely not among the youngest teams in the League. The staff, led by Lorenzo Micelli, must seriously consider what the future identity of this team will be, as it is clear that these players will be worked with in the coming years due to the refusals and/or lack of call-ups of many experienced and key players from the recent past.