Bulgaria Knock out Cuba, Finland Defeats Puerto Rico in Pool D

  0 Blair Lambert | September 16th, 2018 | News

2018 FIVB MEN’S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS – PRELIMINARY POOL D

  • Sept. 12-18, 2018
  • Palace of Culture and Sports; Varna, Italy
  • Pool D: No. 3 Poland, No. 8 Iran, No. 14 Bulgaria, No. 16 Cuba, No. 18 Finland, No. 29 Puerto Rico

A pair of NORCECA teams, Cuba and Puerto Rico, were eliminated from the tournament on Saturday. Cuba was knocked out in a sweep by Bulgaria, and Puerto Rico dropped a tight match to Finland despite a heroic effort from Maurice Torres. Despite injuries, Bulgaria has been putting a good foot forward in front of the home crowd.

BULGARIA DEF. CUBA 3-0 (25-22, 25-16, 25-18)

While Bulgaria had already qualified for the next round, the entered the arena in Varna with purpose and delivered a 3-0 sweep over CubaTodor Skrimov re-aggravated his calf earlier in the week, and did not start in Sunday’s match. He entered the match as a substitute in each set but did not score any points. Nikolay Uchikov was the only player from Bulgaria to produce double-digit points with 17. He scored from 15 kills and 2 aces while hitting 55.6%. Valentin Bratoev scored 9 points on 6 kills, 2 blocks, and 1 ace. Nikolay Penchev contributed 7 points on 6 kills and 1 block from the outside.

Svetoslav Gotsev chipped in 9 points from the middle on 6 kills, 1 block, and 3 aces. The middle blocker posted a 66.7% attack average in the sweep. Viktor Yosifov also hit 66.7% on his way to 4 kills and 6 points overall. He also ended the match with a block and an ace. Georgi Seganov, who is replacing an injured Georgi Bratoev, set Bulgaria to a 48.1% efficiency in attack.

Cuba was led by Miguel Gutierrez and his 13 points on 11 kills and 2 blocks from the right side. Osniel Melegarejo put away 11 kills from the left pin in addition to service ace. Roamy Alonso led the match with 4 blocks and also contributed 3 kills in the defeat.

“I hope that I can play even better in the next games,” said Uchikov. “Sometimes you play your best but afterwards nothing goes well. Today I was in good condition. The whole team was extra motivated. We faced a very dangerous opponent but we were mentally calmed and game went to the best possible end for us.”

FINLAND DEF. PUERTO RICO 3-2 (25-19, 25-23, 27-29, 22-25, 15-10)

Maurice Torres, a new signing with Kioene Padova in Italy, was not able to fight Puerto Rico to their first victory despite his 37-point performance. He led the match with 32 kills and 4 aces. Torres also chipped in a block, but the defeat eliminated Puerto Rico from progression to the next round. Jonathan Rodriguez scored11 points in the middle on 9 kills and 2 blocks. Eddie Rivera came off the bench to score 10 points on 8 kills and 2 blocks.

Elviss Krastins led the way for Finland with 18 points from 17 kills and a service ace. He hit 58.6% in the tie-break victory. Urpo Sivula finished the match with 16 points on 14 kills, 1 block, and 1 ace. Antti Mäkinen Sakari contributed 14 points on 12 kills and 2 blocks for FinlandSauli Sinkkonen led the match with 4 blocks. He also scored on 8 kills and 1 ace to finish with 13 points. Eemi Tervaportti set Finland to a 43.4% attack average.

After leading the match in scoring, Torres said,“This crowd was just incredible! It is fantastic for our sport to be supported by so many fans. So first I would like to thank them! The only thing I can say about the match is that we just missed its end.”

POOL D STANDINGS

Matches Pts Sets Points
Rank Team W L W L Ratio W L Ratio
1  Poland 3 0 9 9 2 4.500 272 196 1.388
2  Iran 3 0 9 9 2 4.500 264 221 1.195
3  Bulgaria 3 1 9 10 3 3.333 311 270 1.152
4  Finland 2 2 5 6 9 0.667 349 361 0.967
5  Puerto Rico 0 4 1 2 12 0.167 253 338 0.749
6  Cuba 0 4 0 3 12 0.250 295 358 0.824

POOL D SCHEDULE

Date Time Score Set 1 Set 2 Set 3 Set 4 Set 5 Total Report
9 Sep 20:40 Bulgaria  3–0  Finland 25–21 25–19 25–22     75–62 P2 Report
12 Sep 17:00 Iran  3–0  Puerto Rico 25–19 25–14 25–18     75–51 P2 Report
12 Sep 20:30 Cuba  1–3  Poland 18–25 19–25 25–21 14–25   76–96 P2 Report
13 Sep 17:00 Puerto Rico  0–3  Poland 14–25 12–25 15–25     41–75 P2 Report
13 Sep 20:40 Iran  3–1  Bulgaria 25–22 25–20 22–25 25–19   97–86 P2 Report
14 Sep 17:00 Finland  3–1  Cuba 25–19 25–19 20–25 25–16   95–79 P2 Report
14 Sep 20:40 Bulgaria  3–0  Puerto Rico 25–16 25–18 25–21     75–55 P2 Report
15 Sep 17:00 Cuba  1–3  Iran 25–17 18–25 22–25 19–25   84–92 P2 Report
15 Sep 20:30 Poland  3–1  Finland 25–20 26–28 25–16 25–15   101–79 P2 Report
16 Sep 17:00 Puerto Rico  2–3  Finland 19–25 23–25 29–27 25–21 10–15 106–113 P2 Report
16 Sep 20:40 Cuba  0–3  Bulgaria 22–25 16–25 18–25     56–75 P2 Report
17 Sep 17:00 Cuba   Puerto Rico     0–0  
17 Sep 20:30 Iran   Poland     0–0  
18 Sep 17:00 Finland   Iran     0–0  
18 Sep 20:40 Bulgaria   Poland     0–0  

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