Bulgaria Finishes 4th in U23 World Volleyball Championship

Russia claimed the bronze medal at the Men's U23 World Volleyball Championship with a 3-1 (22-24, 22-20, 27-25, 21-15) victory against Bulgaria on Sunday.

Middle blocker Ventsislav Ragin led Bulgaria to a 24-22 win in the first set.

Russia gained control of the second set right from the start, eventually winning it 22:20 to level the match.

Russia's blocking continued to cause problems for Bulgaria in a long third set, with all players contributing points. Russia had a three-point lead at the technical timeout, but Bulgaria pulled it back with some strong serving from Jeliazkov and captain Nikolay Penchev that helped them to a series of set points before another Kovalev block and an Ivan Komarov spike gave Russia the set 27-25 and a 2-1 lead.

Russia were just ahead from early in the fourth set and maintained that lead until the final part of the set when Russia moved away to take the medal with a 21-15 win, FIVB informs.