Plovdiv, Bulgaria, May 8, 2014. The women’s team of Maritza PLOVDIV settled for the silver medals from the Bulgarian National Volleyball League. The Yellows had already secured a podium spot by finishing second in the regular season, but had to sit and wait for the end of the championship series to find out the color of their medals.

According to the Bulgarian national championship regulations, the playoffs serve only to determine the champion, while the rest of the final standings are based on the teams’ placement from the regular season.

Maritza was the regular season runner-up, second only to the team of Levski SOFIA.  The girls from Plovdiv moved swiftly through the quarterfinals, but could not overcome their semifinal obstacle – the reigning champions of CSKA-Demax SOFIA, who had finished third before the playoffs.

This way, the team around head coach Ivan Petkov had to wait for the outcome of the final series between Levski and CSKA to know whether they would end up second or third in the final standings.  Had Levski won the gold medals, Maritza would get the silver, but if CSKA moved on to retain the title, the Yellows would be downgraded to bronze.

With two victories against one, Levski emerged victorious from Bulgaria’s ‘eternal derby’ to seal a golden double, claiming its 29th title in history and leaving the champions from the previous four seasons, archrivals CSKA, in third place.

For Maritza, which has never climbed all the way to the top of women’s volleyball in Bulgaria with the exception of the 2012 national cup, this is the fourth medal within the past five seasons after winning silver in 2010 and 2011 and bronze in 2012.