In their last home match of the Champions League, Levski volleyball players were the first in the group to take a point with 2:3 (21:25, 25:23, 22:25, 28:26, 12:15) against one of the best European teams teams – the Polish “Jastzembski”.
For reference, the Olympic champion with France Benjamin Toniuti, the finalists from Paris with the “Polish team” Tomasz Fornal, Lukasz Kaczmarek and Norbert Huber, the called-up member of the “roosters” Timothee Karle and the German national team Anton Breme started in the starting line-up of the guests.
Levski, however, performed very strongly and showed that they can play as equals against teams of the highest rank. That’s why the enthusiastic crowd of over 1500 fans contributed.
Venislav Antov was again in his whirlwind and finished with 22 points (7 aces). Todor Skrimov added 19 points (1 ace). The 17-year-old center Nikolay Nikolaev, who replaced the injured captain Svetoslav Gotsev, performed impressively. He finished with 11 points (2 aces, 1 block)
In the other match of the group, the French “Chamont” won 3:0 (25:21, 25:17, 25:22) against the German “Lüneburg” and thus displaced “Levski” from the third place. Both teams have 1 win each and 4 losses, but the points are 5:3 in favor of the team led by the former national coach of Bulgaria Silvano Prandi.
Thus, the match of the last round in Chaumont on January 29 is a direct clash for the third position, which sends to the quarter-finals of the CEV Cup tournament. Levski needs a win.