Warsaw, July 20 (UNI) Bulgaria keeps alive their hope of qualifying for the FIVB Men’s Volleyball Nations League finals after defeating host Poland in a five-set thriller in Gdansk on Saturday.
Aleksandar Nikolov produced a match-high 24 points, while Martin Atanasov and Venislav Antov added 13 points each. Mateusz Poreba scored 15 points for Poland.
Poland was looking to get back on track after its loss to Cuba, and it seemed they had a great chance, having won 10 straight matches against Bulgaria before their clash in Gdansk. What’s more, Nikola Grbic’s players easily won the first set 25-17.
However, the visitors turned out to be better in the next two sets 25-22, 25-23 and were just one step away from a surprising victory. Jakub Kochanowski’s ace revived Poland’s hopes as they closed the fourth set 29-27.
In the tiebreak, Bulgaria had the last word. A game-winning ace from Simeon Nikolov gave the Bulgarians a 15-11 victory in the decisive set and a 3-2 win overall. Gianlorenzo Blengini’s team earned their sixth win and can still dream of reaching the top eight.
Despite the defeat, Poland has already booked its spot in the final tournament in Ningbo, China, from July 30 to August 3.
France also secured a win, defeating Iran in straight sets 26-24, 25-16, 26-24 on Saturday evening. Theo Faure led the Olympic champions to victory with 21 points.
