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The Czech Republic played on Sunday their third match on CEV EuroVolley, this time it was against Bulgaria. The opening set was quite one-sided as Bulgarians won by fifteen points. The home team quickly concentrated, won the second and third set. In the fourth part of the game they were so close to winning however it was their opponent who defeated them in the tie-break 2:3 (10:25, 25:23, 25:18, 24:26, 11:15).

The Bulgarian players started better as they took an early lead (1:5). This forced coach Jiri Novak to use his time-out. Unfortunately for the home team it had no impact as Martin Atanasov scored two aces in a row which were followed by many successful attacks (2:10). The Czech Republic used their time-out again however the result was the same. The Bulgarian block was fantastic and the home team conceded one point after another. The fans in Ostrava were delighted by an ace from Czech star Hadrava (5:15) but beyond that it was not a good performance. The first set was over after only 19 minutes as the away team won without breaking a sweat (10:25).

The start of the second set was quite even (7:7). The Czech players, supported by their amazing fans, played much better. After Galabov’s ace they took the two points lead which they kept for a while (21:19). Away team pushed hardly and they equalized (21:21). But a mistake on the serve followed by a successful block by their opponent meant two set points for the Czech team (24:22). The first one was turned away by Bulgarians, however Ostravar Arena went crazy as the Czechs scored the much-needed point for winning the second set 25:23).

Theeginning of the next set was slightly better for the home team (5:3). There were many wonderful and sacrificial saves on both sides. Though it was the Czech team who created a bigger lead (10:5). After a while, Bulgaria scored three points in a row (11:9) but then Jan Hadrava scored two accurate spikes and gave again to his team a five-point lead (15:10). The Czechs held it and later in the game created even bigger score difference. The result was seven set points and exactly as it happened in the previous set, they won the second one (25:18).

Bulgaria definitely didn’t want to give up even when they were down by three points (7:4). They tried their best but still were a few points behind home team (15:13). The Czech coach took a time-out and it was a right decision because his team extended their lead (23:19) and almost finished the match. However Bulgarian star Todor Skrimov showed one of his great abilities as he scored directly from a serve three times in a row (23:23). Hadrava managed to set up a match point for the Czech team (24:23) but Bulgarians completely turned the game around and fought for the fifth set (24:26)

This match was therefore decided in tie-break. Away team took the early lead (3:5) which they extended (5:8). The battle was going on as Czechs almost equalized (9:10) it was the Bulgarians who performed well at the end of the game and deservedly won (11:15). Thanks to that they took two points, and the defeated Czech Republic put a point on the table.

Jiri Novak, Czech coach: “We have to win whatever we can after yesterday's defeat. We weren’t far away from three points today but it were Bulgarians stars who took the responsibility and gave it everything. After the first set we didn’t believe that it is possible but we played well. This is our team which can go quickly up or down, depends on emotions and today they were on the right side. After all it was a good match.”

Todor Skrimov, Bulgarian spiker: “Sometimes this happens that you easily win the opening set and thanks to that your opponent plays better. It is a question of psyche and now I am not sure where it went wrong for us. I am glad for those two points because we could lose 1:3. It was not the first time when I took a risk and today it went well for us when I scored those three aces. I know I have a quality serve and I can do it repeatedly. So I tried it, there was no time to wait.”