In the second competition day of the 3rd Round Tournament being currently staged in Varna, Bulgaria achieved another impressive victory on the road to Italy 2010. In a direct battle for the top of the table in Pool J, the Lions crushed the Czech Republic 3-0 (25-15, 25-22, 25-14) and almost secured one of the two tickets available for the Worlds. Some uncertainty for the home team derives might derive from the set point ratio, but the Bulgarians are really close to complete their run towards the final round of the World Championship.
The Czechs lost outside hitter Peter Platenik due to an injury in the first set which may have affected their performance. The only set that featured some intrigue on the court was the second one. The Czechs managed to keep it balanced up to point nr. 20, after which some brilliant performances of Bulgarian spiker Todor Aleksiev tilted the score in Bulgaria’s way and then young talent Valentin Bratoev finished the set off with a fantastic ace. Similarly to yesterday’s two games, Bulgarian Matey Kaziyski and Czech David Konecny became the top scorers of the match, this time with 13 points each. The Bulgarian attack was more versatile than yesterday as Todor Aleksiev and Vladimir Nikolov contributed 12 and 10 points respectively to the victory.
“A small secret of our victory was that we made only 8 direct mistakes. Usually we make more” Bulgaria’s head coach Silvano Prandi said after the match. “Tomorrow we will try to play as today. It should be a live-or-die fight for each point. We need to keep this rhythm thinking of the future”. His Czech counterpart Zdenek Hanik added: “Bulgaria was better in each and every element of the game, especially in serving. It is important for us to start thinking about tomorrow's match against Portugal.”
The second match of the day was also a three-set affair, but it was a bit more tied-up as Portugal managed to take turns in leading the score in every single set. However, Holland prevailed on every occasion and won the match 3-0 (25-21, 25-23, 26-24) to keep its chances for qualifying alive. The Dutch were certainly more determined to come out on top at the end of this match and succeeded as Rob Bontje finished the Portuguese off with a perfect ace at the match-point. Portuguese opposite Valdir Sequeira became the game’s top scorer with 19 points while Robert Horstink scored 16 for Holland.
For a second day in a row, CEV President André Meyer who is on an official visit to Bulgaria enjoyed the matches as a spectator in the “Dvoretsa na kulturata i sporta” hall in Varna. Today he was accompanied by the President of the Bulgarian Volleyball Federation, Mr. Dancho Lazarov, and Vice President Ivan Todorov, while yesterday Bulgaria’s Head of State Georgi Parvanov was also part of the VIP company to be seen on the stands.
The Czechs lost outside hitter Peter Platenik due to an injury in the first set which may have affected their performance. The only set that featured some intrigue on the court was the second one. The Czechs managed to keep it balanced up to point nr. 20, after which some brilliant performances of Bulgarian spiker Todor Aleksiev tilted the score in Bulgaria’s way and then young talent Valentin Bratoev finished the set off with a fantastic ace. Similarly to yesterday’s two games, Bulgarian Matey Kaziyski and Czech David Konecny became the top scorers of the match, this time with 13 points each. The Bulgarian attack was more versatile than yesterday as Todor Aleksiev and Vladimir Nikolov contributed 12 and 10 points respectively to the victory.
“A small secret of our victory was that we made only 8 direct mistakes. Usually we make more” Bulgaria’s head coach Silvano Prandi said after the match. “Tomorrow we will try to play as today. It should be a live-or-die fight for each point. We need to keep this rhythm thinking of the future”. His Czech counterpart Zdenek Hanik added: “Bulgaria was better in each and every element of the game, especially in serving. It is important for us to start thinking about tomorrow's match against Portugal.”
The second match of the day was also a three-set affair, but it was a bit more tied-up as Portugal managed to take turns in leading the score in every single set. However, Holland prevailed on every occasion and won the match 3-0 (25-21, 25-23, 26-24) to keep its chances for qualifying alive. The Dutch were certainly more determined to come out on top at the end of this match and succeeded as Rob Bontje finished the Portuguese off with a perfect ace at the match-point. Portuguese opposite Valdir Sequeira became the game’s top scorer with 19 points while Robert Horstink scored 16 for Holland.
For a second day in a row, CEV President André Meyer who is on an official visit to Bulgaria enjoyed the matches as a spectator in the “Dvoretsa na kulturata i sporta” hall in Varna. Today he was accompanied by the President of the Bulgarian Volleyball Federation, Mr. Dancho Lazarov, and Vice President Ivan Todorov, while yesterday Bulgaria’s Head of State Georgi Parvanov was also part of the VIP company to be seen on the stands.
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