Nancy, France, 2 July 2016 - France won a close match against Poland 3-1 (22-25 30-28 25-22 25-19) in Nancy on Saturday. Tonight's top scorer was Earvin Ngapeth with an impressive tally of 22 points.
Matches between between the two sides always offer top-class action. It was the fourth time the two teams met each other this year (European and World Olympic Qualification Tournaments, World League in Lodz). In front of an amazing French audience, Team Yavbou defeated the white-and-red men in four sets.
For this exciting rendez-vous, coach Laurent Tillie picked his major six, with Clevenot instead of his son Kevin Tillie who was out with a knee injury. On the other side, Stephane Antiga began also with “the big team”, without setter Drzyzga, injured.
In the very tight first set, France gave out during the money-time and conceded a crucial last point to Poland. Earvin Ngapeth wasn’t in a good position and spiked into the net to make it 22-25.
The second belonged to France, thanks in a large part to the great performance by Thibault Rossard. The newest member of Team Yavbou finished the tight second with two incredible aces (30-28). This second set was nothing but a physical fight around the net as both teams showed incredible defensive skills.
Clevenot, another youngster, led his team in attack during the third set. It was 23-21 when Leroux made a decisive block on Konarski. Rossard converted the set point with a diagonal spike.
Kubiak and Zatorski kept Poland in competetive in the fourth set, but Rossard created the precious lead with an ace (20-18). After that, teamwork allowed French to grab the last set, (two blocks for Le Goff, a spike for Clevenot) with the last point brilliantly killed by one of these Ngapeth impressive smashes.