Bulgaria national team
Germany was literally out-classed by a Bulgarian side that has turned into the major sensation of the tournament and that stretched to the 1/4 finals the great momentum showed in the prelims where Vladimir Nikolov & Co. had capped the charts in group A. In what was a very one-sided game, Bulgaria was paced once again by Tsvetan Sokolov with 22 points including three blocks while György Grozer topped the table for Germany in a losing effort by registering 12.
Bulgaria came out the blocks quickly in the first set and established a healthy lead. The raw power of Tsvetan Sokolov, Todor Skrimov, Nikolay Nikolov, Todor Aleksiev and Viktor Yosifov was responsible for their spiked points. Germany’s key man György Grozer was having a good night, grounding aggressively, but the Germans made too many errors and Bulgaria took the set 25-20.
The Germans took a narrow lead in the second set, with Grozer and Marcus Böhme playing well. But Bulgaria came back. Nikolov scored and Sokolov in particular was an immense presence, mixing power and subtlety to devastating effect. They won the set 25-16.
Germany could not keep pace in the third set either, despite the best efforts of Grozer and Max Günthör. Aleksiev and Sokolov were outstanding as Bulgaria blasted through the German defence and into the semi-finals. They shut out the set 25-14, and the match.
All the results from Olympic matches can be found here:
Volleyball – Men Volleyball – Women
