The teams of the women's "Levski Sofia" and the men's "Neftochimic" continue in the Challenge Cup tournament, while the female volleyball players were eliminated from the competition.
The CSKA women's team suffered a defeat from the Greek grand Panathinaikos with 1:3 (12:25, 20:25, 27:25, 16:25) sets in 96 minutes in "Hristo Botev" hall in a rematch from the first round of the "Challenge Cup" volleyball tournament. The "Reds" also lost the first match 0:3.

Yulia Ivanova and Tony Zetova's girls started the match against the Greek champion uncertainly, after which they played much better until the end of the clash. The Bulgarian representatives showed a completely different level, being fully equal to their opponent for long periods of the match. This was particularly evident in the third set, where they also showed character to snatch a 27:25 victory.
Now the "Reds" will concentrate on the upcoming season in the National Volleyball League "Demax".

The most effective player for CSKA in the match was Iveta Stanchulova with 17 points, and Alexandra Kostadinova added 10.

For the Greek team, led by former national coach Dragan Nesic, Martina Samadan finished with 20 points.

Volleyball team Neftochimic 2010 defeated Greek Kifisia with 3:1 (25:23, 21:25, 25:21, 25:20) in the Challenge Cup rematch in Athens, after winning the first match in Burgas 3:0. Thus, the Bulgarian team will play in the 1/16 finals of the tournament against Turkish Spor Toto Ankara.

For Neftochimic, the most points were scored by Pole Rafał Faryna with 15 points, while the Bulgarian Georgi Petrov and the Serb Okošanović scored the same for Kifisia.

The women's volleyball team Levski Sofia recorded a second success against Nitra in the European Challenge Cup. In a return match from the 1/32 finals, the "Blues" prevailed as guests against the Slovaks with 3:2 (25:19, 25:12, 24:26, 17:25, 16:14). In the first match, the team led by coach Radoslav Arsov won 3:0.

Levski started the match stronger and easily won the first two sets, in which they had complete dominance. Thus, the "Blues" practically secured their participation in the next phase of the tournament. In the third set, the Bulgarian team led 24:19, but missed five match points and Nitra made a comeback, reaching 26:24 after seven consecutive points.

After that, the hosts managed to equalize the match after 25:17 in the fourth set. In the tie-break, Levski Sofia had a 12:10 lead, but the Slovaks equalized at 14:14. The next two points were won by the "Blues", who finished the match in just over two hours of play.

The most points for the team from Sofia were scored by Mikaela Stoyanova with 16 points. Dariya Ivanova finished with 10, and Vyara Parapunova scored one less.

In the next round, the "Blues" will face Apollo 8 from the Netherlands, who eliminated Finnish Polku after two 3:0 victories.

Photos: Nikolay Varadinov and CEV