Plovdiv, Bulgaria, February 14, 2018. Bulgaria’s first-ever participant in the CEV Volleyball Champions League - Women, Maritza PLOVDIV, are well on the way to defending their domestic title and securing another participation in Europe’s most prestigious club competition next season. With two games to play, Maritza are still undefeated and have already cemented themselves on top of the regular season standings in the National Volleyball League, which guarantees them a spot in the semifinal playoffs in March.

On Tuesday, the Yellow-and-Blues from Europe’s oldest living city shut out KAZANLAK Volley to claim their tenth victory in the ten matches played since the beginning of the season. Maritza are now well beyond the reach of second-placed CSKA SOFIA (six wins with three games to play), third-placed Beroe STARA ZAGORA and fourth-placed Levski SOFIA (each with five wins with three games to play).

According to NVL regulations, the first place from the regular season guarantees at least silver medals, since the playoffs determine only the new champions. The best-ranked team also skip the quarterfinals and qualify directly to the semifinals, scheduled for mid-March.

Maritza have two more regular season games to play, both of them this week – on Thursday at CSKA and on Saturday at home against Rakovski DIMITROVGRAD – before switching their focus back to their two remaining Champions League games. The Bulgarian champs no longer have a shot at making the next phase of the competition, but they are still hoping to achieve their first win in the pool stage as they visit Serbia’s Vizura RUMA on February 20 and Russia’s Dinamo KAZAN on February 27.