Todor Skrimov scored 12 points to lead Bulgaria in their 3-0 victory over China
Gdansk, Poland, September 5, 2014 – Bulgaria played an excruciating first two sets but managed to keep their composure to take the match in straight sets (25-23, 25-23, 25-19) in Pool C of the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship at the Ergo Arena on Friday.
Key Points
• Danail Milushev, who replaced Tsvetan Sokolov on the opposite position in the second set delivered well with 10 points, including the match point.
• Todor Skrimov who also came in as a substitute in the first set top scored with 12 points.
• Chinese top scorer Yuan Zhi sat out the third set and were held to score just eight points.
• Bulgaria stopped China’s two-match winning streak and improved their record to 2-1.
China showed equal level of power against Bulgaria in the first and second sets but were not able to sustain it against world No. 8 Bulgaria.
Bulgaria and China had a tight contest in the first set, showing off with their excellent service skills.
China’s Liang Chunlong and Bulgaria’s Andrey Zhekov exchanged aces that started a point-by-point exchange, setting deadlocks at 7-all and 13-all. China took the advantage at 18-14 from Yuan Zhi and Zhong Weijun’s attacks. Bulgaria managed to keep up with China and tied the score at 23-all from a superb block from Zhekov and Sokolov.
China were then hounded by errors and could not put on good defence against the Europeans. Finally, a triple Bulgarian block stole the first set from Yuan Zhi’s attack 25-23.
China started again with a comfortable lead at 12-8, built from great serving by Geng Xin and Yuan Zhi’s attacks. Bulgaria suffered on some defensive mishaps that did not allow them to counter well against the Chinese.
Bulgaria finally found the switch button to stop their errors and tied the score at 20-all. Bulgaria took control with the entry of Milushev in the set and middle blocker Viktor Yosifov’s command of the net to finish off the set 25-23.
Substitutions were made in the third set line-ups for both squads. The score seemed to be level in the beginning but Bulgarian outside hitter Todor Skrimov showed some fantastic display of attacks that lifted Bulgaria to make a run. Milushev contributed showed great counter-attacks that rolled-up the score of Bulgaria 16-13. Skrimov remained focused in the final minutes of the third set to keep their lead until a Milushev kill set the final score 25-19.