USA deserevedly took the win in the first match against the Bulgarian Lions. The players of John Speraw beat their opponents with 3-0 (25-19; 25-22; 25-21). This was first loss for Bulgaria in this year’s tournament. After this match, both teams have same results in Pool A ( 4 wins and 1 loss per each team).
The sports hall in Reno was visited by many Bulgarian emigrants, who sang the Bulgarian anathem but this didn’t gave “wings” to the boys of the Balkans.
The Americans controlled the game from the very first referee signal. The first technical time out in the first set came by result 8:3 for USA. By the time of the second one things haven’t change and USA led with 16:9. Logically, Matt Anderson and his teammates closed the set with 25:19.
Things started to seem a bit different in the second set. The players of Camillo Placi led with 4-points-difference by the first technical time out (8:4 for the guest country). This wasn’t something that John Speraw and his team wanted, so the situatiation changed and USA took an advance by 16:14. Tsvetan Sokolov&co couldn’t take the initiative and lost the set with 22:25.
This surely gave some calmness to the American team and the third set did not offer any different situatiation or a big volleyball drama. The first technical time out came by result 8:6 for USA. It seemed that the Bulgarians started to “wake up”, and the second technical time out came by 16:14 for the Lions. But this wake- up- call came too late and USA closed the set 25:21 and by this also the match 3-0.
The best one on the volleyball field for the winners was the American striker- Matt Anderson ( he finished with 13 points and 2 blocks). For the Bulgarians Tsvetan Sokolov gave its best by finishing with 19 points.
The loss was the first one for head coach Camillo Placi in an official match. Here is what Placi shared after the game: “The American team was just excellent in some components. We had difficulties in some aspects of the play where we are usually better- attack and block”.
The same opinion shared the Bulgarian captain Todor Alexiev: “We have to make it better in attacks. Our problem was not in the deffence, but in the attacks.”
On the other hand, the American head coach John Speraw tried to not let the euphoria of the win taking control: “I don’t think that any team could show its best play. But we made it better in some components, so this was the key that led us to the victory. By this time of the year, we are more than worried about our style and what could we do better”.
The captain of USA- Matt Anderson, thinks that despite the loss the volleyball players of Bulgaria have played well in the first game in Reno: “We know that Bulgaria would jump in the game in order to struggle for the win. They played very strong by the serve and this made us playing under pressure. We expect that the Bulgarians would return on the volleyball field for the second game stronger, this is why we should be better”.
photo: FIVB