France and Poland battled each other but also their fatigue of their international tournaments. France handled the pressure better and defeated their Polish hosts 3:0.
Lodz, Poland, June 25, 2016 – France defeated Poland in straight sets (30-28, 25-20, 31-29) in front of their white-and-red crowd at Atlas Arena in Lodz but both coaches were able to see positive things in their game.
Laurent Tillie, coach of France: It think all teams try to take a rest to work a lot for the Olympic Games. We see it and we see a lot of changes in teams. They let other players perform. Even with changes in line-up, it is always high level to play against Poland, so we are very happy because of this victory, especially since yesterday we were very sad. I wish to see you again in Kraków if we will be able to book a ticket for the final six tournament.
Stephane Antiga, coach of Poland: I guess it was our best match during this tournament, even if we lost 0-3, we performed better than before. We showed better game and as I said before our form is not where it should be yet, but we will improve it soon.
Benjamin Toniutti, captain of France: It is a good victory today after yesterday loss. It’s also good to see how we play a tough game against Poland, because we are really tired after traveling to Tokyo, coming back to Europe and then traveling to Australia and again coming back to Europe. So after all these trips we now see how we can play and that we also can beat Russia and Poland even if we are tired. It is good for the future, but now we are going back to France and we hope to get a ticket for the final six tournament in Kraków.
Michał Kubiak, captain of Poland: Congratulations to France, they didn’t play extraordinary volleyball, but it was enough to beat us. In two sets we could have turned thing around, but we didn’t. All I can say is: see you in Kraków.