Yu Yaochen (2nd L), Jiang Zhengyang (3rd L) and Zhang Jingyin (1st R) of China try to block the ball during the FIVB Volleyball Nations League Men's Pool 6 match between China and Bulgaria in Gdansk, Poland on July 9, 2022. (Photo by Piotr Matusewicz/Xinhua)
China came back from one-set down to beat Bulgaria 3-1 and secure their third victory in the men's FIVB Volleyball Nations League in Gdansk, Poland on Saturday.
The first set turned out to be tight as Bulgaria needed 28 points to win it. Aleksandar Nikolov, Svetoslav Gotsev and Denis Karyagin led the team to win the opening set 28-26 with five points each.
China responded well to take an early lead in the second set after Li Yongzhen successfully blocked a shot and Zhang Jingyin's ace extended the advantage. The Bulgarians were unable to match the level, and Peng Shikun ended the set with a powerful strike, 25-23.
In the third set, Zhang led China to a five-point lead at the second technical time-out (16-11). Karyagin scored five points with killing pipes but it turned out to be short to stop China from winning the set 25-23.
With a dream start in the fourth set, China controlled the game after Peng Shikun delivered two consecutive aces and Yu Yuantai's monster block took it to 5-0. China won the set 25-17 through a successful spike by Yu.
Zhang was China's most prolific player of the game with 18 points. Denis contributed 15 for Bulgaria.
"I am so excited for this victory. I think we did very well today and accumulated precious experience from this match. Every victory pushes us to do better," Chinese player Yuan Dangyi said after the game.
Also on Saturday, Amirhossein Esfandiar led Iran to a massive win over Serbia in three straight sets, while Poland smashed the Netherlands, also in 3-0.
China will face Serbia on Sunday, while Italy take on the Netherlands and the Poles are to meet the Slovenians.
