Team captain and star setter Simone Giannelli ran the Italian offense in a very efficient way and saw four of his hitters get to double digits in scoring against the Bulgarians – outside hitter Mattia Bottolo (13), middle blockers Giovanni Gargiulo (13) and Simone Anzani (ten) and opposite Kamil Rychlicki (ten) -, besides scoring an incredible eight points himself, with three kills, three blocks and two aces.
“Bulgaria played great volleyball today, with a lot of defense and really good serving,” Gargiulo said. “I’m happy that we didn’t lose our minds when we were down, we kept playing, and that’s what we are supposed to do in the first week. We haven’t played together in a while, so it’s difficult to just get back and play like we did today. We have a lot of good players who can help the team, and that’s what happened today.”
Bulgarian star outside hitter Aleksandar Nikolov was the match’s top scorer with 17 points (14 kills, two aces, one block). Team captain and middle blocker Iliya Petkov had ten (eight kills, two blocks) and 18-year-old star setter Simeon Nikolov registered seven, with three kills and four aces.