Bulgaria secured the No. 1 seed in Pool E after completing a three-game sweep of winless Chile, 25-17, 25-12, 25-12, in the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship on Wednesday at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
Aleksandar Nikolov maintained his fine form with 17 points on an efficient 83-percent attack rate as Bulgaria prepared to face the No. 2 seed from Pool D—either Cuba or Portugal—in the Round of 16.
Martin Atanasov was also efficient, contributing 12 points on an 80-percent attack rate. Asparuh Asparuhov added 10 points, while Moni Nikolov showcased his brilliant playmaking once again, scoring seven points.
“I’m proud of my team for the win today because these kinds of games, when we’re already qualified and play against the outsider of the group, are really hard to play,” said Atanasov. “We went very seriously into the game today, and I’m proud of the team. Our position is amazing, we played great volleyball, and I think we deserve first place in the group.”
Atanasov added that their sweep of Pool E didn’t come as a surprise, especially with Germany and Slovenia disputing the last Round of 16 slot from their group.
“We came here to win every game, so I’m not surprised,” he said. “There are a lot of surprises in the other groups as well. This is the World Championship—everybody plays at 100% in every game. If you don’t play at your maximum level, it’s hard to win against anybody. I’m happy that we played every game at 100%, so we deserve the wins and deserve first place.”
Chile went winless in three games during its first World Championship appearance in 43 years. No player scored in double figures, with Vicente Valenzuela and Vicente Parraguirre contributing seven points each.
.png){kind=icon}