Enjoy our page: http://www.facebook.com/LeandroSportsVideos USA stage superb comeback to shock Bulgaria. Varna, Bulgaria, May 23, 2014 -- USA defeated Bulgaria 2-3 (25-19, 25-22, 25-27, 19-25, 12-15) after staging a dramatic comeback in front of a passionate Bulgarian crowd at the Palace of Culture and Sports on Friday night. 5,000 spectators witnessed the game, and it seemed like an easy home win after Bulgaria stormed into a two-set lead. They won the first set 25-19, catching the USA a little cold, and followed that up with a dominant second set performance, 25-22. Key attacker Tsvetan Sokolov was on particularly fine form. Todor Skrimov proved his great shape and started with strong serve to fluctuate the Americans since the very beginning. His teammates continued with determent serve and not giving much of a chance for their guests. Firm and concentrated, Bulgaria lead by Skrimov and Sokolov was the master of the attack, spiking hard and strong. Hosts had everything on their side - powerful attack, good defense, smooth block. On the other side of the court - the USA hesitated and were looking for the right way to play. Second set was the story continuing for Bulgaria. Nikolay Nikolov and Todor Alexiev added their tribute to Sokolov and Skrimov's to lead host team easily via the second set. John Speraw's boys were not in the match that concentrated and it seemed that it is going to be an easy win for their opponents. Andreson and the "trump" Sander kept scoring though keeping the distance 2-3 points all the time. American team stressed their play after two sets in behind and took the lead in the third. Victor Yosifov was the changer of the third set, scoring two decisive points for Bulgaria when they were exactly that much behind their rivals at the 17th point. At the end it seemed that it is decided for Bulgaria to win easy 3:0. John Speraw's boys never gave up and at the end of the set they managed to save two match balls in-a-row to stay on top and after being down 23:24 and 24:25 the third was closed in their favor. Forth set started with several point-by-point rallies but Americans were already ahead, mostly in psychological aspect. Bulgaria's condition went down and at 9-12 with some great defense the US went ahead. Following plays obviously lead Camillo Placi to think of the tie-break putting Penchev and Bratoev in instead of tired captain Aleksiev and Skrimov. His team tried to solve the situation with strong serve but were stopped by their own unforced errors. Taylor Sander and Matthew Anderson did the rest to close this set in USA favor too - 2:2. Physical condition probably was the decisive moment in the last set. Bulgaria feeling unsecure and tired on side of the court, Anderson and Sander - scoring more and more for the United States. Even putting back on court Aleksiev did not help much Bulgaria and the match was closed by the United States 12:15. Sokolov was the match's top scorer with 25 points; Anderson was narrowly behind him with 24. The two sides meet again in the same venue on Saturday evening.

• published: 23 May 2014
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