Bulgaria vs France | Highlights | Men's VNL 2026. France finished its 2026 FIVB Volleyball Nations League campaign with a convincing 3-0 victory over Bulgaria in the final match of Week 3 in Chicago, USA. Although already eliminated from Final Eight contention, the Olympic champions produced one of their strongest performances of the tournament, defeating Bulgaria 25-21, 25-22, 25-21. For Bulgaria, the match was a decisive opportunity to secure qualification for the VNL Finals after an impressive campaign, but the straight-set defeat ended their hopes despite remaining competitive throughout all three sets.
Every set was closely contested, with Bulgaria keeping pace for long stretches thanks to its aggressive serving and powerful attack led by Aleksandar Nikolov. However, France proved more composed during the decisive moments of each set. Strong serving pressure, efficient first-ball side-out play, disciplined blocking and excellent defensive organization allowed the French side to consistently pull away late in the sets and complete the sweep.
Mathis Henno was the standout performer of the match, finishing as France's top scorer with 20 points while delivering several crucial attacks during the closing stages. Setter Antoine Brizard expertly distributed the offense, allowing France to maintain a balanced attack throughout the match. Bulgaria relied heavily on Aleksandar Nikolov's scoring ability, but the French block and defense gradually limited his effectiveness as the match progressed.
France started Antoine Brizard at setter, Stephen Boyer at opposite, Mathis Henno and Antoine Pothron as outside hitters, Mousse Gueye and François Huetz in the middle, with Benjamin Diez as libero. Bulgaria featured Simeon Nikolov at setter, Venislav Antov opposite, Aleksandar Nikolov and Asparuh Asparuhov as outside hitters, Alex Grozdanov and Iliya Petkov as middle blockers, and Damian Kolev at libero.
The victory allowed France to conclude the preliminary round with six wins from twelve matches and finish its VNL season on a positive note before shifting focus to future international competitions. Bulgaria also finished with six victories, having recorded impressive wins over Italy, China and the United States earlier in the tournament, but narrowly missed qualification for the Final Eight after falling to France in the decisive final match.
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Video Summary
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France secures a straight-sets victory over Bulgaria in a VNL match. Despite strong individual efforts from Bulgarian players like Alex Nikolov and Ihek Peketo, the two-time Olympic champions maintained control through superior teamwork and the standout performance of Matisse Enno.
Rob Snook alongside Emily Eamon with Matt Prosser and it is
game on Bulgaria serving France.
Brizard sits behind him for four and tail four starts the match
with a bang.
Not bad against a triple block.
Denislav Bargarav. Oh, just got it over.
And Oh goes with the tent.
No, can't get it out.
Kolev takes.
And Asperuov hammers it.
Brizard saves. Here's four.
Bulgaria out of system.
Alex just reaches to pop it over.
Here's Matisse and oh, that's going to score through the
triple block.
Target, or sorry, the number three target, the number one
receiver in the VNL.
Here's N.O.
Ripping, saved by Bulgaria.
Alex gets a swing on it.
Here's tail four and that's too hot to handle.
Bulgaria's block all over the place during that rally.
Rotation that got France a four nothing lead to start with
Brizard and they've got a three point lead again.
This time he brings the heat.
Brizard's serve is so sneaky.
Playing internationally since he was 18.
Oh, the set is tricky for Colton.
Kept alive Bulgaria.
Who's going to play it?
Goes down off, does.
France in system and scoring out of the pipe from Matisse N.O.
Captain goes down off serving at Poutron.
Interesting set, really worked for Brizard to Poutron.
Solid serve N.O.
takes.
Here's tail four.
It's going to go out.
Did he ever pummel that?
Kind of a throwaway challenge.
That would seem.
18 serving 21.
Let's see if it throws Alex Nikolaf off.
I'd say no, but France has managed to get it up.
Managed to get it down and all ripping from the pipe.
I know it's been so good through the backcourt today.
Even with.
Pelev serve.
Taken overhand by Poutron.
The middle attackee at Biketo.
Perfect timing for a middle.
Perfect timing.
And Moni Nikolaf, 19 year old from Sofia, Bulgaria, who went to
school in the U.S.
at Long Beach State.
The point, Poutron.
Here's Barov.
He's got four aces this VNL campaign.
It hasn't started a lot and he's missed it.
So that'll do it for the opening set.
France starts really well.
Limits.
They're right back in this.
Other than that, very even across the board.
And right now we go set number two, France in red, Bulgaria in white,
short serve from captain Brizard.
Here's Alex Nikolaf through the triple block.
Brizard's got it up.
So he's out.
Ramon sets, tail force swings through the triple.
Here comes Alex Nikolaf.
That's going to score.
First point of the set goes to Bulgaria.
Right away.
That's the kind of energy that we saw from Alex Nikolaf last night.
We haven't seen that at all so far.
And Moni hit that one.
There's a swing from Wetz.
Got a lot more on that one.
I was going to say, against this serve, they're going with four across.
Seems like an important point.
I was going to say of the set for Bulgaria.
After such a good start.
Brizard calls everyone else off.
Gives to Enno.
And the ball comes back down.
Nobody knew where it was except Moni and he couldn't reach it.
When you block, don't close your eyes
because you're not seeing where the ball is ending up.
Alex Nikolaf over the block.
Nice pick up by Ramon off the soft block.
Here's four.
Brizard fakes.
Four swings.
And he's got it.
It's awfully close.
That was a really big play for France to get, because look at that up.
If Bulgaria gets the point after that kind of defensive intensity.
Dig on the play.
13 serving, 14.
It's a really good serve.
Middle attack.
That's even better from Ihek Peketo.
It's a really good serve.
Alex Nikolaf sends it up to the net for Atanasoff.
Popped up by Potron.
Enno.
And it's a left hander over from Alex Nikolaf.
Here comes Theo Four.
Used all of them up last night.
Yeah, apparently.
It was then off.
The hybrid at Enno.
The one hand set.
And that's going to go out.
Must have touched the Bulgarian blocker and the net.
It could just feel the force.
Here's Alex Nikolaf under the back row.
Good set from his brother, even if he can only see half middle blocker.
The 18 year old middle blocker, Ihek Peketo.
Potron, up from Alex.
Good touch on the block.
France a chance to win it.
And they, they're up two sets to nothing.
What an impressive match so far.
Here's that last point.
Another awesome serve.
Nikolov takes it this time.
Out of system, though, the block is waiting on it,
gets a critical touch right off of it, slows it down.
And a great put down by the outside.
Really smart high swing by Enno on this.
Seeing the blockers a little bit late.
Bulgaria, they've got work to do right now.
Take you back about 10 months of the World Championships
last year in the Philippines.
Bulgaria was down in the quarterfinals against USA.
Two sets to none.
Storm back to force a fourth and eventually a fifth.
And then one on the silver medalist from the World Championships last year.
Monique Nikolov serving.
It's really good, but it's up from France.
Enno goes with a tip.
And it's going to come back over.
Another chance for France.
And Boisard has missed it.
And does he think there's a tip?
Monique Nikolov serving.
Here's tail four.
And the goes, the block goes out off Atanasoff.
Alex Nikolov serves.
Really good, but it's up from Pothron.
Here's tail four.
Blocked.
And there's the first block point of the match for Bulgaria.
Huge toss.
Rockets that one out.
Enno.
Here's Pothron.
And Alex swings.
Kept alive.
France.
Tail four.
That's another block point.
Like you said, Emily.
I hear what you're saying, but it kind of makes no sense, really.
It just, you get a good feel for it.
You're right in the right rhythm.
You're jumping a little higher, pushing a little harder.
Sometimes it just takes one.
And this is Mone doing it again.
That Duflo Rossi.
And that against France on the carry from Duflo Rossi.
Let's see if Ihek Baketo can keep changing the tide here.
Doug.
Brizarev's got time to set Enno.
Up from Alex Nikolov.
He might want to swing.
He gets the swing.
He tips it.
And Howard tips it into the pot.
Alex Nikolov.
That's good.
Ramon absorbs it.
Here's four.
Up from Matanasoff.
Zhelev all the way across.
There's a huge block from Ihek Baketo.
That one going straight down.
Ihek Baketo read this so well.
Rotation has him in the back row.
So he's been replaced by a little barrel.
Here's Enno off the net.
Alex goes with a tip.
Popped up by France.
Free ball over.
A chance for Bulgaria.
The dig set.
The swing.
They miss by Alex Nikolov.
And the challenge coming from Bulgaria
on block touch possibly.
This is such a huge point.
Is France leading 23-21?
Are we tied at 22?
No.
No touch on that.
That's massive in France's favor.
Now up two.
Matisse Enno has been the best player in the game.
He's got 18 points.
Ready to put this in play.
What a pass.
And that's put to a block,
but it's kept alive.
Maly sends it over.
Here's Enno in France.
Edge of their seats as well.
And it's over!
It ends in a sweep by the two-time Olympic champions
over Bulgaria.
And Bulgaria, a disappointment for them
after such a huge win over the United States,
couldn't back it up against France.
