Bulgaria – team
France edged Croatia 3:1 (25-19, 25-21, 16-25, and 25-19) in the opening match; the first couple of sets were hardly contested but only up to the second technical time-out where France always changed gear to claim a provisional 2:0 lead. Croatia stepped up in set 3 with good blocks and some intelligent combinations in offense that surprised France’s defense line to cut the gap and call for the fourth set where France re-established its supremacy to cash its first match ball after 105 minutes of play.
The hosts of Bulgaria did not have any problem to rout Finland in straight sets (25-21, 25-16, and 25-14) anchored by their wing spiker Gergana Dimitrova who scored 22 points all alone.
On Friday France will open the daily program by playing Finland while Bulgaria will take on Croatia later in the afternoon.
