French volleyball players are gradually approaching the level that allowed them to win the Olympic gold in Tokyo in 2021. On Wednesday July 19, in Gdansk, Poland, they suffered an encouraging defeat in five sets (25-21, 25-18 , 17-25 , 24-26, 15-9) against the United States in the quarterfinals of the League of Nations.
Beaten flat by these same Americans in the preliminary round on July 9, the Habs put on a much better face this time around. However, they are eliminated from this prestigious competition which pits the 16 best teams in the world each summer.
Overwhelmed in the first set by the creativity of the American passer Micah Christenson and the power of the acute Matthew Anderson, the Blues struggled to find solutions against the wall formed by the duo Thomas Jaeschke-Max Holt at the block. However, they managed to pull themselves together by varying their serves to put the Americans in a tight spot, which allowed them to come back to within two sets anywhere.
Most effective on serve and wall in money time, the Americans easily won the tiebreaker (15-9) to reach the semifinals. The French volleyball players, who snatched their last qualifying ticket for the Final 8 on the last day of the group stage, thanks to a victory against Germany, were able to raise the level of play to compete against one of the favorites of this competition, who finished first in the regular stage.
The rivalry between the two teams is strong: last year the Blues beat the Americans in the final of the League of Nations, winning the third League of Nations in their history.
French volleyball players can now devote themselves to preparing for the 2023 European Championship (from 28 August to 16 September), their priority objective for the year. On this occasion they will recover their leader, Earvin Ngapeth, who was left at rest during the League of Nations.
