29/06/2012 18:00
Bulgaria prolongs winning streak waiting for final showdown with France
2012 CEV Volleyball European League - Women
Metz, France, June 29, 2012. Bulgaria stretched on Friday its winning streak in Pool B of the 2012 CEV Volleyball European League – Women to a total of 11 matches after the group around head coach Marcello Abbondanza downed Switzerland in straight sets in Metz (25-13, 25-14, and 25-12).
Switzerland was not able to stop Bulgaria’s main offensive weapon, Strashimira Filipova, and the “Lionesses” from the Balkans will try to complete their clean run by playing the hosts of France on Saturday. “This will be the most important match of the weekend and although it does not influence the final standings of the Pool, we want to win to sweep all of our games in the prelims” said Abbondanza. “Bulgaria is evidently working for the final four and after the start of the game I told my players that they would have to work hard to score every point” added Swiss mentor Svetlana Ilic. “We are here to gradually improve the quality of our play and test out our likes against some of the strongest teams out there. On Saturday we will play a very young Turkish team and so we expect a very close fight to finish well our first adventure in the European League”.
In the second match of the day France edged Turkey 3:1 (25-20, 21-25, 25-23, and 25-15). The home heroines started well but then suffered the comeback of the young Turks who took many risks with their service eventually pocketing the second set. Supported by some 800 fans, France eventually cruised to the final 3:1 to make sure it will finish the prelims in second place. “I know my colleague Marcello is fully concentrated on the final four, so I hope we won’t waste our time on Saturday and France will win quickly the last game of the season” joked France’s head coach Fabrice Vial.
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