In a night full of surprises, Spain and Israel pulled off stunning upsets against favored opponents Bulgaria and Greece in their respective opening matches of men’s CEV EuroVolley 2023.
Hosted at Varna’s iconic Palace of Culture and Sports, Spain left the local fans in disbelief with a 3-1 win (25-17, 25-21, 21-25, 25-19) over Bulgaria in the Pool B curtain-raiser. The star of the night for Spain was their captain Andres Villena, who showcased a stellar performance by scoring 24 points, including three kill blocks. His teammate Jordi Ramon wasn’t far behind, contributing 21 points along with five aces and a remarkable 79% success rate in attack. Despite a strong 22-point effort from Bulgaria’s star player Tsvetan Sokolov, the host team couldn’t pull off a win.
Adding to the night’s drama, Israel followed up with their own upset by defeating Greece in a nail-biter 3-2 (25-17, 27-29, 21-25, 25-21, 15-13) in the Pool D opener. Ido David of Israel emerged as the top scorer of the game with an impressive 28 points. For Greece, Dimitrios Mouchlias was the standout player, finishing the game with 17 points.
