Maritza adds seventh Bulgaria Cup trophy to golden showcase

Maritza Plovdiv took its fifth consecutive and seventh overall Bulgaria Cup trophy. In the 2022 final, held in Burgas on Friday evening, the Yellow-and-Blues delivered a 3-0 (25-17, 25-23, 25-23) shutout of DKS Varna in 75 minutes.

About ten years after winning the national cup in January 2012, the first senior-level trophy in the history of the club, Maritza triumphed as winners of the tournament without losing a single set along the way. The team from Europe’s oldest living city mastered a 3-0 (25-14, 25-12, 25-16) clean slate in its quarterfinal against Slaviya Sofia. Then it produced a 3-0 (25-12, 25-16, 25-18) semifinal shutout of CSKA Sofia to reach tonight’s final in Burgas.

The trophy game was not at all an easy one for Maritza, considered the heavy favourite in any domestic match it has played in recent years. The first set went back and forth through 8-8, before coach Borislav Krachanov’s squad could break away in the score. DKS was in control of the scoreboard for most of the second set, even extending its lead to five at 11-6, but in the money time, after 20-20, Maritza stepped up its efforts to edge forward and double its lead. In a similar fashion, the team from Varna opened a 9-4 lead in set three before Maritza battled it out to gradually regain control and celebrate victorious.

Outside hitter Aleksandra Milanova topped the scorers chart of the match on 18 points and was awarded as the Most Valuable Player. Silvana Chausheva added another 12 points, while Maritza’s former team member Simona Nikolova was DKS’s best scorer on 13.

Curiously, the final also offered an interesting clash between father and daughter, DKS’s head coach Stoyan Gunchev against Maritza’s setter Kristina Guncheva, and between sisters, Maritza’s middle blocker Boryana Angelova against DKS’s middle blocker Maya Angelova.

“It was a good final! After the first set, which we won in quite an emphatic manner, we allowed our opponents to play their game and created some headaches for ourselves. The good thing is that we now have the experience and the self-confidence to come out of difficult situations like this,” said Maritza’s head coach Borislav Krachanov. “Now we have to recover, mainly emotionally, to be able to prepare in the best possible way for our upcoming Champions League home game against Beziers Volley on Tuesday.”

In addition to 2012 and 2022, Maritza won the Bulgaria Cup in 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021. In 2020, the Yellow-and-Blues reached the semifinals and were well on their way to topping the podium again, but the competition was prematurely interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic. They are also seven-time back-to-back national champions of Bulgaria since 2015 and are continuing their quest to add another title to their collection in the spring of 2022.

Bulgaria Cup 2022 – results