French players celebrate after collecting their first victory in the Final Six Round against Germany on Tuesday
Katowice, Poland, September 16, 2014 – France started the FIVB Men’s World Championship Final Six Round off on the right foot scoring a convincing straight-set (25-15, 26-24, 25-22) victory over Germany in a Pool G match at Spodek Arena on Tuesday.
Earvin Ngapeth and Antonin Rouzier led the way for the winning side with 20 and 16 points, respectively, while Kevin Tillie added eight points in the victory. Gyorgy Grozer and Denys Kaliberda reached double digits for Germany with 14 and 11 points in the loss.
Key points
•The two teams are 2-2 in head-to-head matches at the world championships
•France’s Antonin Rouzier increased hits leading-scoring points to 182
•France took three out of four meetings against Germany in the 2014 World League
France blanked their opponents 4-0 from the service line while the Germans held the advantage in blocks 10-5.
The French team have a rest day on Wednesday while Germany meet Iran to continue the action in Pool G.
Starting from the beginning of the first set, both teams displayed fine blocks (with Kevin Le Roux and Earvin Ngaeth of France and Marcus Böhme of France) and presented well-built defence that caused very balanced game. France ran 5-3 ahead after Earvin Ngapeth efficient serve and increased their leading to three points with a fierce of spectacular digs finished with a fine counter-attack. Having four points of advance at the first technical timeout, France started to control the game and extend their leading (10-5 after Antonin Rouzier’s kill). Germany tried to catch up with fine spikes by Denys Kaliberda and Tim Broshog and making a use of the opponent’s mistake, they managed to come at 14-12. However, aggressive serves followed by fine counter-attacks helped Laurent Tillie’s players to jump 16-12 ahead and kept the advance till the end of the set, finishing it 25-15 after Jochen Schöps’s out dink.
As Germany came back to the court with regained focus, they kept touch mostly because of their good passing and efficient spikes. Nevertheless, France were 8-7 ahead at the first technical timeout. With Denys Kaliberda’s winning the fight at the net, Germany managed to reduce France’s lead to one point (9-8). Shortly after, a great performance with astonishing defence by both teams was finished by France’s out spike and let Germany catch up at 10-10. This balanced game was held throughout the set and the scores changed from one side to the other due to György Grozer and Denys Kaliberda’s spikes of Germany and Ngapeth of the world No. 13 ranked team. Vital Heynen decided to put Sebastian Kühner on the court to improve Germany’s serve, but his serve mistake put France 20-19 ahead. With hard-spiking Ngapeth, France finished the exciting second set 26-24.
Continuing their road after a ten-minute break, France started the third set with powerful spikes and gained 4-1 leading. With Grozer coming back to the game, Germany started a chase, but their serve error increased the distance to four points (6-2). After out German’s block, France led 8-3 at the first technical timeout. Improving their defence, Germany with two efficient blocks by Dirk Westphal and Max Günthör followed by Grozer’s fine counter-attack, managed to reduce France’s lead to two points (9-7). At 10-8 Kaliberda and Böhme stopped Ngapeth’s attack and forced Laurent Tillie to call a timeout. Keeping their advance, France prevented world ranked 10 Germany from playing efficient spikes and building solid defence. After astonishing catching up which was possible due to Dirk Westphal’s aggressive serves, Germany came closer at 22-21, but they were Brazil who won the third set 25-22, after Germany’s simple technical mistake.