Bulgaria cheers victory over U.S.

(BEIJING, July 19) -- Host Bulgaria beat pool C leader United States 3-2 (25:22, 24:26, 25:16, 23:25, 15:10) in front of over 6,000 home crowd fans in the last weekend of the World League.

The host closed the first set 25-22 thanks to a good serve by Matey Kaziyski as well as efforts form Todor Aleksiev. Despite a weak start in the second set, the U.S. held the lead at the second technical time-out and closed the set at 26-24.

Although the Americans fought hard to win, the hosting side had the advantage because of their superior serving and claimed this set with a big margin 25-16.

In the next set the advantage was on the American side, despite great effort from Bulgaria. And in the tie-break, good service from Andrey Zhekov and Plamen Konstantinov helped Bulgaria take the game, 15-10.

"This of course, is not the result we wanted but it happens," Thomas Hoff, U.S. team captain told the FIVB website. "The main thing is that we faced a team with quality and an environment which we do not meet every day. It was priceless for us to play here. It is not a waste of time for us to come to Bulgaria."