The Bulgarian national volleyball team enjoys a tremendous run in the European Championships in Turkey and Matei Kaziiski, one of the team’s most prominent players, believes the team has the power and determination to do the business against Russia. 
 
The team will take on Russia on September 10 at 3pm Bulgarian time in the fourth and final encounter from Group F. Until now, both Bulgaria and Russia enjoy a 100 per cent record in the tournament, having won five games out of five each. The semifinal with the Russians will be played in Istanbul.
 
On September 9, Bulgaria decisively beat the Netherlands by 3-1 sets, where Kaziiski was one of the instrumental players in the side. The match with the Dutch was particularly heavy, especially in the fourth set, but Bulgaria managed to out-muscle the initiative away from their opponents.
 
In that decisive fourth set, Kaziiski scored some of the most crucial points for the team, resulting in a hard-earned victory that qualified Bulgaria among the top four in the tournament.
 
Bulgaria had already dispatched Serbia, Italy, Finland, and the Czechs before the Netherlands encounter.
 
"There are no protocol encounters for us," Kaziiski said in an interview for Dnevnik daily.
 
"That’s why we will go out searching for victory over Russia. We are strong, and we believe we can beat anyone. We don’t really care who will be our opponent in the semis," he said.
 
"It is normal for Vlado Nikolov and myself to be responsible for most of our team's attacking play," he added. "After all, we are more experienced and we are the team’s lead attacking players," he added.