Wait is over! Maritza earns first Champions League victory since 2020!

After three winless seasons and two winless matches, Maritza Plovdiv finally felt the sweet taste of victory in a CEV Champions League game again. The Bulgarian champions celebrated a 3-2 (22-25, 25-17, 25-18, 14-25, 15-8) away win at Hungary’s Vasas Obuda Budapest in a 2023-2024 Pool B match on Wednesday.

Maritza’s 17-year-old opposite Iva Dudova led the Yellow-and-Blues with 20 points and claimed the match’s Most Valuable Player award. Her tally included four of the team’s 13 kill blocks that made the difference on the court, in addition to Vasas’s abundant unforced errors. American outside hitter Ciara DeBell added another 17 points, including one ace and two blocks. Middle blocker Borislava Saykova and sub-in outside Dobrina Hristoskova also reached the double digits with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Home team’s American opposite Taylor Denise Bannister produced the match high of 27 points.

Halfway through its pool campaign, Maritza is now in the best position to aim at finishing third in the final standings, below heavy favourites Savino Del Bene Scandicci of Italy and Eczacibasi Dynavit Istanbul of Turkiye, a place which would allow the team to advance to either the Champions League eighthfinals or the CEV Cup quarterfinals. After three legs of pool play, undefeated Savino stand on top of the table, followed by Eczacibasi on a 2-1 win-loss record, Maritza on 1-2, and Vasas on 0-3.

Maritza’s previous win in a Champions League match dates back to February 18, 2020, when it finished its pool campaign with a hard-fought 3-2 (25-19, 21-25, 25-17, 22-25, 20-18) home victory over Russia’s Uralochka-NTMK Ekaterinburg to crown a three-game winning streak against three European giants, also including a 3-1 away success at Russia’s Dinamo Moscow and a 3-1 home win over France’s RC Cannes.

In their remaining three games of the ongoing Pool B race, the Bulgarian champions visit Eczacibasi on December 12 and welcome Savino on January 10 and Vasas January 16.

Champions League 2024 Pool B – results and standings