Russia defeats Bulgaria by 3-1 in quarterfinal of 2011 CEV Volleyball European Championship
The last quarter-final of the 2011 CEV Volleyball European Championship was played in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic. The two teams that were contesting against each other were Russia and Bulgaria. A tough fight followed that ended with a Russian win at 3-1
and trip to the semi-finals of the tournament.
Russia could not get its hands on the opening set of the game as it encountered problems getting used to the courts. However, once the Russians got into form, they dominated the next three sets and managed a comfortable win at the following final set scores:
22-25, 25-19, 25-18 and 25-19.
The coach of the Bulgarian team Radostin Stoytchev expressed himself in the following words: “First of all, I would like to congratulate the Russian team and their coach on the victory. They deserved it. The major differences were the following: they played
33 high balls with 73% of efficiency, a ratio I have never seen before. Secondly, they had 42 counterattacks with a 52% of positive result. With these figures on their side it was impossible for us to win. I can only repeat they deserved it and the better
team is moving to the next stage of the competition.”
The start of the first set of the game saw the Bulgarians take the lead as the Russians struggled with some aspects of the game. On the other hand, things were going smoothly for the Bulgarians and their strong reception was playing a key role in keeping
the pressure on the Russian squad. Before long, the Bulgarians had the lead at 21-16. The Russian players Alexander Volkov and Dmitriy Muserskiy were able to step up the play on the behalf of their team but the effort was not enough. It was only a matter of
time after that before Bulgaria could secure the first set of the game at 25-22.
The loss of the first set sent a much needed wake up call to the Russians and they came out strong in the second set by taking the lead at the beginning and not letting go of the advantage. The Bulgarians kept trailing all the way through to the end of
the set at 25-19.
By the time the third set arrived, the Russians hitters were in full form and raining down kills on their opponents. Russia got the lead at 18-10 but the Bulgarians also gained pace and reached close. However, Bulgaria was not able to swing things in their
favour and the Russians bagged another win at 25-18.
The fourth set stayed even in the initial stages but as the frame progressed the Russians managed to get the lead and stick with it all the way to the end at 25-19.
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