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A third victory in a row for Slovenia meant a guarantee of promotion into the round of sixteen. After a great performance, they defeated Bulgaria 3:0 (25:18, 25:19, 25:21).

Slovenia had a better entrance into this game. First they led 5:1 and then 7:3. After that Bulgaria avoided any mistakes and scored a couple points (7:5). Most of their attacks were played by opposite Tsvetlan Sokolov but he wasn‘t always accurate. There were some other mistakes by Bulgaria followed by several powerful serves from their opponent meant that the lead kept increasing (19:14). During Klemen Cebulj serve they scored three points in a row and this set was basically over.

The beginning of the second set was again controlled by Slovenia. They stormed out of the gate and quickly gained a 6:3 lead. An ace by opposite Toncek Stern started a run in the score again (15:8) and all signs pointed to them winning the set. The serve wasn’t the only key as their reception was consistent as well and as a result, wings Klemen Cebulj, Tine Urnaut and Toncek Stern had no trouble finishing the rallies.

Bulgaria managed to match Slovenia’s early lead in the opening few points of the third set. First Tsvetan Sokolov scored with strong attack and later Todor Skrimov equalized (10:10). Bulgaria then shortly got into the lead, however Slovenians had too much service pressure. They turned the game around (15:13) and managed to tighten it into winning.

Tine Urnaut, Slovenian outside spiker: “We are very happy, these are important three points for us because Bulgaria is a very strong team. Our serve was really good today and that basically made the match easier. We completed many successful double and triple blocks and created great counterattacks.”

Tsvetan Sokolov, Bulgarian opposite: “Slovenians had an amazing serve today. They scored many aces and definitely tested our defence. Current volleyball – it is mainly about serve and good blocks. Those are the things we didn’t have today. Not ideal receive disabled any chances of attack and that is why we have lost. We have to look at the footage to see what we have to improve and then obviously make less mistakes.”