The national men's volleyball team under 19 suffered a painful loss to Spain 2:3 (26:24, 25:19, 17:25, 17:25, 8:15) in the quarterfinals of the World Championship in Tashkent, BTA reported.
The home team led 2:0, but never reached the semifinals with the Polish team, which defeated the Republic of Korea 3:2 earlier in the day.
Bulgaria started with: Ivan Uzunov, Jasmin Velichkov, Nikolay Nikolaev, Martin Totkov, Deyan Marinov, Nikola Konstantinov and libero Daniel Tiholov.
The Bulgarian team was lagging behind at the beginning of the match, with the Spanish maintaining a two-three point lead. At 6:9, coach Miroslav Zhivkov called for a timeout, after which the team scored two consecutive points - the second after an ace by captain Jasmin Velichkov. Bulgaria tied the game at 10:10 and took the lead at 14:13 after a successful block, and then opened a gap at 16:14 after an attack by Velichkov, but with a series of two aces the Spanish made a turnaround, which forced the Bulgarian coach to make a timeout. Bulgaria made a new turnaround at 20:19 after an attack by Nikolaev, who found a gap between the opponent's blocking players. The Spanish team was the first to reach a game ball at 24:23, but captain Velichkov distinguished himself with a point block, and then the Bulgarians took the lead at 25:24. After another block by Velichkov and the team's superiority in this element, Bulgaria won the first set with 26:24.
In the second set, Bulgaria again dominated due to an extremely strong block and strong performances in attack. The Bulgarians led 5:0 and when Spain returned to the match at 8:9, Zhivkov's team again opened an unattainable gap at 18:10. The home team also won the second set with 25:19 after a diagonal attack by Deyan Marinov.
The third game began with an exchange of points, but the Bulgarian team made a series of errors and fell behind by 9:13. At 10:16 Zhivkov took a break, but Spain continued to dominate the attack and counterattack. Reserves Konstantin Manolev and Nikolay Mihovski also entered the field. Spain closed the half at 25:17 after a block-out.
In the fourth game, the opponent was the first to strike and broke away with two points at 6:4, and at 8:5 Zhivkov interrupted the game to disrupt the rhythm of the Spaniards. However, Bulgaria's attack did not work, and the Spaniards improved their percentages when receiving. Spain constantly increased its lead, and coach Zhivkov gave some of the main players a rest, including Dimitar Peychinov. Spain achieved a new 25:17 and tied the games, sending the match into a tiebreak.
In the tiebreak, Spain was the first to make a break point for 3:1, and then a direct fourth, which caused an interruption by Miroslav Zhivkov. At 6:10, another time-out followed for Bulgaria, as the last chance to turn the match around. The Spaniards reached six match points at 14:8 and their diagonal Ireche converted the first one with a direct ace from a serve.
Captain Jasmin Velichkov was the best for our team with 19 points - 13 from attack, five blocks and one ace. Deyan Marinov added 15 points, and Nikolay Nikolaev and Nikola Konstantinov - 11 each. Above all in the match was Ireche from Spain, who finished with an impressive 31 points.
Spain surpassed Bulgaria in attack, in serves, and also made fewer mistakes, while Zhivkov's team had an advantage only in blocking - 19:12.