The Bulgarian men's volleyball team achieved its second consecutive victory in this year's edition of the Nations League. Led by Gianlorenzo Blengini, the team won 3:2 (25:22, 22:25, 25:19, 23:25, 15:12) against Germany in a Group 1 match played at the Videotron Centre in Quebec (Canada).

Aleksandar Nikolov was the top scorer with 28 points, 59% success rate and 51% efficiency. Ventsislav Antov also performed well in attack.

However, the Bulgarian national team made 31 errors from the first serve, 30 of which were in the first four games.

Germany suffered its third consecutive loss in the tournament, again with a score of 2:3.

The Germans started the match better, but the Bulgarian volleyball players did not allow their opponents to build a serious lead at any point.

The decisive moment came when Bulgaria took a 21:19 lead after two successful attacks by Aleksandar Nikolov. After a timeout requested by German coach Michał Winiarski, the score was 23:20 after a counter block by Anton. In the end, Bulgaria won the set 25:22 after an excellent block and ace by Aleksey Nikolov.

In the second game, the score was again tied until the very end. This time, the Germans were more focused and took a 22:19 lead after an ace by Filip Jon. Germany managed to maintain its lead and closed the set 25:22 after a service error by Preslav Petkov, tying the match at 1:1.

In the third game, with the score at 13:12 for Bulgaria, Asparuhov scored, Venislav Antonov responded, and Theo Movinkel made a mistake, bringing the score to 16:12. An incredible exchange followed, ending with a point for Moni Nikolov and 17:12. The Germans equalized 14:17 after two strong attacks, but the “tricolors” even increased their lead to 20:14 after a strong block. Gianlorenzo Blengini's volleyball players won the third game 25:19 after another successful attack by Aleksey Nikolov and took a 2:1 lead.

The fourth game was extremely tense and developed point by point until the very end, but the Germans managed to equalize the score at 25:23.

In the tiebreak, Bulgaria again showed very good blocking. After two strong attacks by Alexei Nikolov, we took a 5:2 lead.

After a successful attack by Antov, the score became 9:5. The Germans then won three consecutive points and equalized in the tiebreak – 8:9. Bulgaria again managed to increase its lead to 12:9 points after an attack through the center by Ilia Petkov and a great block by Georgi Tatarov.

Another successful block by Ilia Petkov made the score 13:9. At 14:10, match point came in favor of Gianlorenzo Blengini's boys. They encountered some minor difficulties but managed to win the match 15:12. |BGNES