Bulgarian Superliga 2011/2012

YavorD

Setter

Posts: 1,786

Favourite Team: Bulgarian NT, Neftochimik Bourgas, Belogorie

Location: Bulgaria

161

Sunday, March 18th 2012, 4:23pm

In the last round of the regular season every team but CSKA took what they needed. CSKA lost in Montana and after Neftochimik beat Levski in Sofia, the team from Bourgas escaped Levski in the quarterfinal play-off, as well as Pirin in the eventual semifinal one, and moved one position above CSKA. On the other side CSKA will face Levski in the quarterfinals, but then the winner will await Pirin in the semis, which is definitely not the best scenario. Marek and Neftochimik look like favourites to play semis, but against Montana and Arda respectively there is nothing certain yet. The only team deserving some good words right now (beside Pirin, of course) is Neftochimik, they look differently in the second half of the season with Niki Naydenov as a starting setter.

Slavia needed a set to remain in the play-off spots. Pirin surely didn't mind losing a set against Slavia, especially when both teams are in such a good relationship in general. Marek used mostly bench players in Lukovit against Botev and expectedly lost the game, but without any consequences in the final standings.

I don't really remember the last time when there was no team from Sofia in top 3 after the end of the regular season.

Quarterfinal play-offs:

(1) - (8 ) Pirin Balkanstroy - Slavia
(2) - (7) Marek Union-Ivkoni - Montana
(3) - (6) Neftochimik 2010 - Arda
(4) - (5) CSKA - Levski

YavorD

Setter

Posts: 1,786

Favourite Team: Bulgarian NT, Neftochimik Bourgas, Belogorie

Location: Bulgaria

162

Friday, March 23rd 2012, 10:05pm

Cup of Bulgaria 2011-2012

Final tournament

21-23 March 2012

"Skaptopara" Sports Hall, Blagoevgrad

Quarterfinals:

21-March

Levski Volley - Pirin Balkanstroy 3-2 (22-225, 25-21, 19-25, 27-25, 24-22) stats
Coco Volley Club Gabrovo - CSKA 1-3 (20-25, 27-25, 17-25, 21-25) stats
UNWE - Arda 0-3 (18-25, 21-25, 17-25)
Montana - Marek Union-Ivkoni 3-2 (25-23, 25-19, 13-25, 19-25, 15-12) stats

Semifinals:

22-March

Arda - Montana 3-1 (25-13, 20-25, 25-22, 25-23) stats
Levski Volley - CSKA 3-1 (23-25, 25-11, 25-14, 30-28 ) stats

Final:

23-March

Arda - Levski Volley 2-3 (25-12, 23-25, 25-22, 19-25, 15-17) stats

Individual Awards:

Best Attacker
Simeon Aleksandrov (Levski Volley)
Best Blocker
Vasiliy Petrov (Levski Volley)
Best Setter
Georgi Bratoev (Levski Volley)
Best Libero
Teodor Marinov (Arda)
MVP
Georgi Bratoev (Levski Volley)

YavorD

Setter

Posts: 1,786

Favourite Team: Bulgarian NT, Neftochimik Bourgas, Belogorie

Location: Bulgaria

163

Friday, March 23rd 2012, 10:08pm

YavorD

Setter

Posts: 1,786

Favourite Team: Bulgarian NT, Neftochimik Bourgas, Belogorie

Location: Bulgaria

164

Friday, March 23rd 2012, 10:25pm

The final tournament for the Cup was organized over the last three days and you can say it was everything but according to expectations. First, the Federation chose a different format with 8 teams in a three-days knock-out tournament in a location that has nothing to do with volleyball. The sports hall was decent though, however, Blagoevgrad is a predominantly football city. We should also confess that attendance was very high compared to the league games, which is at the end a reason to congratulate the organizers.

Second, for the first time in years the war started the week before the Cup finals. The captain of Levski and NT back-up setter Georgi Bratoev said there will be a lot of surprises during these three days and he was damn right about that! He was confident Levski will beat Pirin on the first day, as it eventually happened, and then he motivated all his teammembers to dye their hairs blonde. You can see how they looked like on the pic above. He was practically right about everything he said before they arrived in Blagoevgrad! Today Levski won the Cup and Bratoev was even selected MVP.

Neftochimik was eliminated by UNWE at the 1/8-finals stage, the almost unbeaten leaders Pirin were stopped by Levski, CSKA as well on the next day, Marek also left early as a result of losing to Montana. No one could predict the finalists reaching that far! We mentioned a lot of times that the league is competitive, but relatively weaker compared to previous years, and these results come only to support everything I wrote since the beginning of the season. Play-off games are approaching soon, derbies like Marek-Montana and Levski-CSKA are to be repeated more during the next weeks, so we will find out whether it has just been three crazy days with a momentum by some teams, or the "favourites" will recharge quickly the batteries and get their revenge in a series of home and away games.

BTW, a draw decided the road to the final, it was not related to current league standings or any other rankings.

Bartek

ישו אני בוטח בך

Posts: 8,643

Favourite Team: Уралочка НТМК Екатеринбург

165

Friday, March 23rd 2012, 10:32pm

Levski Cup Champion must be sensation the more that the Team is on Regural Season 5th place.

What does the Cup give when We look to Euro Cups?

Write Champions and Runners Up from past.

Prediction Game:

Gold - Men J ECH 2012
Gold - Women J ECH 2012
Gold - Women EL 2012
Gold - Men CL 2012
Gold - Men WC 2011
Gold - Men ECH TO 2011
Gold - Men ECH 2011
Gold - Men EL 2011
Gold - World League 2010
Gold - Women CL 2010
Silver - Men EL 2012
Silver - Women WC 2011
Silver - Women EL 2011
Silver - Men CL 2011
Silver - Women WCH 2010
Silver - Men WCH 2010
Bronze - Grand Prix 2012
Bronze - Women ECH 2011
Bronze - Grand Prix 2011
Bronze - World League 2011

YavorD

Setter

Posts: 1,786

Favourite Team: Bulgarian NT, Neftochimik Bourgas, Belogorie

Location: Bulgaria

166

Friday, March 23rd 2012, 11:39pm

Quoted from "Bartek"

Levski Cup Champion must be sensation the more that the Team is on Regural Season 5th place.

What does the Cup give when We look to Euro Cups?

Write Champions and Runners Up from past.

They used to be a very strong team some years ago, but now times changed. Yes, for these young guys and their young coach it is a huge success and a major upset for the rest! Normally, the Cup winner should advance to CEV Cup, but this is not really the case in Bulgaria as no one but CSKA wants to participate in the European Cups. We have the quotas, they are allowed to use them, but at the end the Federation is asking just any club to compete because almost none of them can afford the expenses of the participation. You know, it is a long topic, you don't gain much from participating in Europe. Actually, most of the times the costs are higher than the profits. So, maybe you won't see Levski soon in Europe, but I really hope I am wrong! CVC Gabrovo had some money and represented Bulgaria in the Challenge Cup during the last two seasons, they shouldn't be normally allowed to as they finish in the bottom half of the table, but as no one else accepted, pretty much any club with some money spent can participate.

Now, for the previous winners I will give you a list, but there is no public statistics available, this is what I gathered for you guys:

2012 - Levski Volley def. Arda 3-2
2011 - CSKA def. Pirin Balkanstroy 3-2
2010 - CSKA def. Lukoil Neftochimik 3-1
2009 - CSKA def. Marek Union-Ivkoni 3-2
2008 - Lukoil Neftochimik def. CSKA 3-0
2007 - Lukoil Neftochimik def. Pirin Balkanstroy 3-0
2006 - Levski Siconco def. Lukoil Neftochimik 3-2
2005 - Slavia def. Levski Siconco 3-1
2004 - Levski Siconco
2003 - Levski Siconco
2002 - CSKA Royal Foods
2001 - Levski Siconco
2000 - Levski Siconco
1999 - Slavia Hebrosgas
1998 - Slavia Saga
1997 - Levski Siconco
1996 - Levski Siconco

Number of titles:

CSKA - 19, Levski - 13, Slavia - 10, Spartak Sofia - 3, Minyor Pernik - 3, etc.

bella

skrita limonka

Posts: 3,468

Favourite Team: Poland, Bulgaria, AZS Częstochowa, Jastrzębski, Resovia, Skra

Favourite Players: Ignaczak, Kadziewicz, Kypek, Kubiak, Winiarski, Bartman, Glinka

Location: Poland

167

Saturday, March 24th 2012, 4:34pm

Quoted from "YavorD"

Why they are all blond? It reminds me "blond times" in our Jastrzębski Węgiel

"The main thing is to have something that keeps us alive, even if you call it a ball and a piece of net."

raylight

young padawan, defensive tackle

Posts: 3,362

Favourite Team: Levski

Favourite Players: Jekov, Nikolov, Кaziyski, Todorov,Tsvetanov, V.Bratoev, Zlatanov, Huantorena, Simon, Ball, Leon, Salparov

Location: Earth

168

Saturday, March 24th 2012, 5:23pm

I told you some time ago that Levski could surprise. They train on Rado's system under Georgi Petrov, they have explosive player like Simeon Aleksandrov, winner like Georgi Bratoev and 213 cm MB Petrov. The other teams are not so balanced, CSKA without spirit, Pirin with MBs as best scorers, the real surprise is that the first team had only one defeat, not the winner of the cup tournament.

Full matches and volleyball videos from me:

http://www.youtube.com/user/raylight234/featured

http://vimeo.com/user9567204

http://www.dailymotion.com/user/raylight234/1

https://www.mcgill.ca/files/pollak-lab/h…repi02vol11.pdf

We examined many dietary factors and found associations with several. However, the clearest findings in this study of healthy women were a positive association between intake of total energy and milk and circulating IGF-I levels.

raylight

young padawan, defensive tackle

Posts: 3,362

Favourite Team: Levski

Favourite Players: Jekov, Nikolov, Кaziyski, Todorov,Tsvetanov, V.Bratoev, Zlatanov, Huantorena, Simon, Ball, Leon, Salparov

Location: Earth

169

Saturday, March 24th 2012, 5:24pm

Quoted from "bella"

Quoted from "YavorD"

Why they are all blond? It reminds me "blond times" in our Jastrzębski Węgiel

It was to motivate them to win, to embarass themselves before the games so they would have nothing to lose on the court :lol:

Full matches and volleyball videos from me:

http://www.youtube.com/user/raylight234/featured

http://vimeo.com/user9567204

http://www.dailymotion.com/user/raylight234/1

https://www.mcgill.ca/files/pollak-lab/h…repi02vol11.pdf

We examined many dietary factors and found associations with several. However, the clearest findings in this study of healthy women were a positive association between intake of total energy and milk and circulating IGF-I levels.

volley super fan

Spiker (and a Girl!!! :D)

Posts: 1,716

Favourite Team: Bulgaria, Poland,Holland, Trento, Skra, Cuneo

Favourite Players: Kaziyski, Kaziński, M. Wlazly, K. Skowronska, M. Flier, N.Gribc, Fei, L. Mastrangelo

Location: Bulgaria

170

Saturday, March 24th 2012, 5:33pm

Quoted from "bella"

Quoted from "YavorD"

Why they are all blond? It reminds me "blond times" in our Jastrzębski Węgiel

Hehe, well it was Georgi Bratoev's idea, initially he wanted to dye blue (the color of Levski), but after that he heard that blue dye doesn't fir to every type of hair, that's way he decided to be blonde and the rest of the team agreed

Wild Wild West!

..............................................................................................

" There is nothing better than this"

..............................................................................................

YavorD

Setter

Posts: 1,786

Favourite Team: Bulgarian NT, Neftochimik Bourgas, Belogorie

Location: Bulgaria

171

Saturday, March 24th 2012, 6:03pm

Quoted from "raylight"

I told you some time ago that Levski could surprise. They train on Rado's system under Georgi Petrov, they have explosive player like Simeon Aleksandrov, winner like Georgi Bratoev and 213 cm MB Petrov. The other teams are not so balanced, CSKA without spirit, Pirin with MBs as best scorers, the real surprise is that the first team had only one defeat, not the winner of the cup tournament.

What kind of system they use we can't be sure, even if they try to copy something, they don't have the players to do so, so such comparisons are ridiculous, the least to say. Aleksandrov is a good player for our standards, but to make a step in international volleyball he needs a hell lot of work to do. The Petrov twins I am not even gonna comment, they are both avarage players for our league, Bratoev, on the other side, is the leader they need. If you saw the game yesterday, you would know it turned out to be Aleksandrov vs. Neshev affair, both setters were using only them in the decisive moments, making the game quite predictable and just the fact that the level is now the same in all teams made the otherwise weak tournament interesting! True, Levski achieved a lot during these three days, team spirit was significantly raised as a key factor, we all praised Levski and Georgi Petrov for that, but such a thing could've happened in a knock-out tournament in a new hall only! Now to prove it was not just a momentum (something Levski have been failing to do in the last years) they should try and achieve something more in the play-off phase. Then we would be able to say whether in the important matches they have the team and the quality they are talking about.

And no, it IS a surprise when all top 4 teams are eliminated and the 5th-ranked team gets the Cup. Pirin quite deservedly finished the regular season with a 21-1 record. Levski was poor during the league phase, this is why the outcome of the Blagoevgrad tournament is a surprise. But don't get me wrong, I liked it a lot mainly because young players got out of the lethargic level they were trapped into showing the "favourites" they can bite.

raylight

young padawan, defensive tackle

Posts: 3,362

Favourite Team: Levski

Favourite Players: Jekov, Nikolov, Кaziyski, Todorov,Tsvetanov, V.Bratoev, Zlatanov, Huantorena, Simon, Ball, Leon, Salparov

Location: Earth

172

Saturday, March 24th 2012, 9:03pm

I cited Bratoev, he said they train like with the NT and they have the best physical preparation according to his words.
Aleksandrov has qualities to be more than good on international level, but he needs a ton more work to do. Even I can see how imprecise he spikes sometimes

Full matches and volleyball videos from me:

http://www.youtube.com/user/raylight234/featured

http://vimeo.com/user9567204

http://www.dailymotion.com/user/raylight234/1

https://www.mcgill.ca/files/pollak-lab/h…repi02vol11.pdf

We examined many dietary factors and found associations with several. However, the clearest findings in this study of healthy women were a positive association between intake of total energy and milk and circulating IGF-I levels.

YavorD

Setter

Posts: 1,786

Favourite Team: Bulgarian NT, Neftochimik Bourgas, Belogorie

Location: Bulgaria

173

Friday, March 30th 2012, 10:22am

Quarterfinal play-offs (best of 3):

28-March

(1) - (8 ) Pirin Balkanstroy - Slavia 3-2 (1-0) (25-17, 25-16, 21-25, 29-31, 15-13) stats
(2) - (7) Marek Union-Ivkoni - Montana 3-0 (1-0) (25-16, 25-18, 25-21) stats
(3) - (6) Neftochimik 2010 - Arda 2-3 (0-1) (25-19, 27-25, 23-25, 22-25, 12-15)
(4) - (5) CSKA - Levski Volley 3-2 (1-0) (25-20, 23-25, 29-27, 23-25, 15-13) stats

YavorD

Setter

Posts: 1,786

Favourite Team: Bulgarian NT, Neftochimik Bourgas, Belogorie

Location: Bulgaria

174

Friday, March 30th 2012, 10:30am

The first mid-week games of the quarterfinals were completed. As you can see, apart from Marek, no one had a walkover. CSKA and Levski had the expected battle, Levski were again close to making a surprise, but this time CSKA won and gained the psychological advantage before today's second match. Arda's momentum was confirmed in Bourgas where they came back from 2 sets down to lead 1-0 victories against the almost perfect recently Neftochimik. This was for sure the upset of the quarterfinals so far. Nw with the second match in Kardzhali Arda is surely a favourite and Neftochimik will have a mountain to climb if they want to make it a stage further. Slavia also, quite unexpectedly, put up some fight in Razlog and made the hosts Pirin sweat. It is obvious Pirin are currently suffering having performed poorly in the Cup of Bulgaria a week ago. Today's games look promising - maybe not always from the perspective of quality, but rather from the perspective of competition.

YavorD

Setter

Posts: 1,786

Favourite Team: Bulgarian NT, Neftochimik Bourgas, Belogorie

Location: Bulgaria

175

Sunday, April 1st 2012, 12:43pm

30-March

Slavia - Pirin Balkanstroy 2-3 (0-2) (22-25, 25-22, 25-21, 20-25, 9-15) stats
Montana - Marek Union-Ivkoni 1-3 (0-2) (23-25, 27-25, 22-25, 19-25) stats
Arda - Neftochimik 2010 3-1 (2-0) (13-25, 25-16, 25-9, 25-21) stats
Levski Volley - CSKA 1-3 (0-2) (25-21, 22-25, 21-25, 20-25) stats

Semifinal play-offs:

Pirin Balkanstroy - CSKA
Marek Union-Ivkoni - Arda

raylight

young padawan, defensive tackle

Posts: 3,362

Favourite Team: Levski

Favourite Players: Jekov, Nikolov, Кaziyski, Todorov,Tsvetanov, V.Bratoev, Zlatanov, Huantorena, Simon, Ball, Leon, Salparov

Location: Earth

176

Monday, April 2nd 2012, 10:00am

Quoted from "YavorD"

30-March

Slavia - Pirin Balkanstroy 2-3 (0-2) (22-25, 25-22, 25-21, 20-25, 9-15) stats
Montana - Marek Union-Ivkoni 1-3 (0-2) (23-25, 27-25, 22-25, 19-25) stats
Arda - Neftochimik 2010 3-1 (2-0) (13-25, 25-16, 25-9, 25-21) stats
Levski Volley - CSKA 1-3 (0-2) (25-21, 22-25, 21-25, 20-25) stats

Semifinal play-offs:

Pirin Balkanstroy - CSKA
Marek Union-Ivkoni - Arda

Obviously 7 hours a day training is not enough for some of the players of Levski and the bad schedule /playoffs right after the cup/ didn't help, since they played the longest matches there.

Full matches and volleyball videos from me:

http://www.youtube.com/user/raylight234/featured

http://vimeo.com/user9567204

http://www.dailymotion.com/user/raylight234/1

https://www.mcgill.ca/files/pollak-lab/h…repi02vol11.pdf

We examined many dietary factors and found associations with several. However, the clearest findings in this study of healthy women were a positive association between intake of total energy and milk and circulating IGF-I levels.

triglav_kran

Farmer

Posts: 1,179

Favourite Team: They change every hour, every minute, every second. I'm a "whore" supporter

Favourite Players: not the best, just my favourite: Sokolov, Todorov, Sergio, Dimitrov, Seganov, Zagumny, Zaytsev and some more

177

Tuesday, April 3rd 2012, 4:02pm

The Bulgarian volleyball federation is going to make a deal with the Cuban volleyball federation allowing Cuban players to play in the Bulgarian Superleague as a step towards their realisation outside the Carribean island!

http://volleyball.sportal.bg/news.php?news=357951

nadejda

The Shepherd

Posts: 1,934

Favourite Players: Dobri is in my heart <3

Location: Bulgaria

178

Thursday, April 5th 2012, 7:28am

First playoff matches:

Pirin - CSKA 3-0
Marek - Arda 3-1

C'mon Pirin! That was a surprising result considering Pirin's bad matches recently! Wow! :woohoo:

Go Pirin, take the title! :box:

On the green, green grass with my fellow sheep ...

.....
For he hears the lambs' innocent call,
And he hears the ewes' tender reply;
He is watchful while they are in peace,
For they know when their shepherd is nigh.

William Blake

YavorD

Setter

Posts: 1,786

Favourite Team: Bulgarian NT, Neftochimik Bourgas, Belogorie

Location: Bulgaria

179

Friday, April 6th 2012, 11:15pm

Semifinal play-offs (best of 3):

04-April

Pirin Balkanstroy - CSKA 3-0 (1-0) (25-20, 25-22, 25-20) stats
Marek Union-Ivkoni - Arda 3-1 (1-0) (25-23, 25-21, 24-26, 25-18 ) stats

ari

Player

Posts: 201

Favourite Team: Bulgaria, CSKA, Brazil W

Favourite Players: Yosifov, Aleksiev, De Cecco, Salparov, Kaziyski, Volkov, Todorov, Skrimov, Grozer, Kurek, Filipova, Kitipova, Ombochaeva, Kim, Rabadjieva

Location: Sofia

180

Monday, April 9th 2012, 9:03am

The series are drawn after 3-1 in Sofia and 3-0 in Kardjali. So today are the 3rd matches

Радо Стойчев каза: Мизия, Тракия, Македония! Западните покрайнини - завинаги български!

Inside Volley Board

Cup of Bulgaria 2011-2012

Quoted from "Bartek"

Quoted from "YavorD"

Quoted from "bella"

Quoted from "YavorD"

Quoted from "bella"

Quoted from "YavorD"

Quoted from "raylight"

Quoted from "YavorD"

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