Bulgaria achieved an exceptional success over Poland with a 3:2 (17:25, 25:22, 25:23, 27:29, 15:11) game in a match from the Volleyball League of Nations. The Bulgarian team forged its first victory over the leader in the world rankings in 8 years.

In front of the full stands in Gdansk, "Druzhina Polska" started confidently and won the opening game with a score of 25:17. However, Gianlorenzo Blenzini's students showed no signs of faltering in their game and achieved a complete turnaround after games 22 and 23. Bulgaria was close to closing things in its favor in the fourth game, but missed several match points and was penalized after 29:27 for the European champions.

In the tiebreak, the "lions" kept their cool and after a solid game in attack and blockade, they achieved a famous success - their first over the opponent in this format and their first since 2017.

Alexander Nikolov was again above everyone for the home national team with 24 points. Martin Atanasov and Venislav Antov added 13 each, and captain Alex Grozdanov finished with 10. For Poland, Mateusz Poreba played a very strong game with 15 points. Bartosz Bednos scored 12, and Bartolomej Boladz and Wilfredo Leon finished with 11 and 10 points, respectively.

With the two games won today, the Poles secured participation in the Final Eight in China, while Bulgaria retains its chances of qualifying. The Bulgarians are in eighth position, and the first 7 go to Ningbo, as the hosts are far outside the top eight. | BGNES