Along with its 78th consecutive win in Bulgaria\u2019s National Volleyball League, the team of Maritza Plovdiv celebrated its fifth consecutive title and earned a spot in next season\u2019s CEV Volleyball Champions League – Women for what will be the club\u2019s fourth appearance in a row.<\/p>\n
The Yellow-and-Blues from Europe\u2019s oldest living city, who have not lost a domestic league match since November 14, 2015, continued their domination throughout yet another NVL season, claiming 21 wins and losing only two sets along the way to the champion\u2019s trophy.<\/p>\n
To add some suspense to the epilogue of the 2018-2019 season, the defending title-holders actually lost one set in their third match of the best-of-five gold medal series against Levski Sofia, the same team they have been playing against in the final for each of the five national titles they have won in the past five consecutive seasons. After the 3-0 (25-18, 25-15, 25-14) and 3-0 (25-17, 25-17, 25-16) home victories at the Kolodruma in Plovdiv, Maritza faced a tough challenge from the young squad of the opponents in the third game in Sofia, but winning one set was as much surprize as Levski managed to deliver – 3-1 (25-15, 21-25, 25-18, 25-15) in favor of Maritza.<\/p>\n
Club president Iliya Dinkov personally presented the gold medals to the players before Dancho Lazarov, president of the Bulgarian Volleyball Federation, handed captain Nasya Dimitrova the trophy. Levski Sofia settled for silver and Beroe Stara Zagora took the bronze.<\/p>\n
Earlier this season, Maritza made another important step forward in its growth as a club, achieving a historic first victory for a Bulgarian women\u2019s team in the pool stage of the Champions League. But the season is not over yet, as the team from Plovdiv has one more trophy to defend, at the Bulgaria Cup final four to be held at Kolodruma on April 17 and 18. In one of the semifinals Maritza will play against CSKA Sofia, in the other \u2013 Beroe and Levski will battle it out for the other spot in next day\u2019s final.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am happy to have completed another season without losing any matches in the national championship, but I am far from saying that this situation is good for Bulgarian women\u2019s volleyball. I hope in the future the other clubs find a way to compete with us more successfully,\u201d head coach Ivan Petkov, also in charge of the country\u2019s women\u2019s national team, commented after the awarding ceremony. \u201cI think this season is better for us than the previous one, which has actually always been our goal \u2013 to build up and continue moving in a positive direction.\u201d<\/p>\n