BEILUN, China, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Bulgaria rallied past hosts China 3-2 (25-18, 18-25, 19-25, 25-17, 15-11) to claim a first round victory at the inaugural 2018 FIVB men's Volleyball Nations League on Friday.
Bulgarian wing spiker Boyan Yordanov led the way with 17 points as the world 14th-ranked team kept a win-loss record 12-1 against 20th-ranked China. China had not beaten the Bulgarians in 56 years - since way back in 1962 at the FIVB World Championship in Moscow.
The star on the night for the locals was opposite spiker Jiang Chuan with 17 points, while middle blocker Rao Shuhan scored 14 points including a team-leading three blocks.
Losing the opening set 18-25, China fought back in the second and started to rally behind the efforts of Chuan. Bulgaria committed too many errors during the second and third sets and China fought it back to lead 2-1. Bulgaria committed 39 errors in the game while China had 24.
Powerful attacking helped Bulgaria move on with their confidence in the following sets as they dominated the game and never gave their opponents any chance. Bulgaria scored 61 points with high-flying spikes and nine aces while China had 42 and three respectively.
"The Bulgarians changed their squad in the fourth set, which made it different. We want to find a way to deal with it, but unfortunately we couldn't do that," said Raul Lozano, head coach of China, "But I am satisfied with the players tonight."
Early on Friday, Benjamin Patch's match-leading 23 points helped the United States get their opening win at the League with a gritty 3-2 (25-27, 24-26, 26-24, 25-21, 15-10) victory over Argentina.
The Argentinians were led by wing spiker Ezequiel Palacios and middle blocker Pablo Crer with 17 points each but shared the spoils among themselves with four players in total reaching double figures. They had a chance to seal the match in the third but the Americans dug themselves out of trouble thanks mainly to the imposing presence of the 23-year-old Patch, who kept finding places to put the ball away.
The United States grew in confidence in the following three sets as they ran to the win with three easier sets.
