#France: all matches of tuesday’s Round 19

Yesterday evening all the matches of Round 19 of French Ligue A were played. What’s happened? In short, in one of the direct fights, Sete wins at home at tie break against Narbonne, Tours walks on Nantes winning in straight sets, while Rennes returns to victory, winning away in four sets against Poitiers. Great victory for Nice against Chaumont with the same result, and a super Cannes wins against Toulouse in straight sets. The victory of Ajaccio in four sets against Tourcoing closes the picture of this round.
In detail, a real battle was played at Sete: 5 sets were needed for the hosts, against a Narbonne who practically surrendered after the first 3 sets played at the most. The guests were 1-2 ahead, however from the fourth set on there was only Sete in the field, who deservedly won this match, despite the 30 points of Baroti (for Narbonne he practically played only him!). On the winning side, Vasyl Tupchii was the top scorer with 23 points, while Szwarc played a really good performance: 20 points, including 7 winning blocks (and 5 aces, like his teammate Bultor). The real difference was made by the winning-blocks: 16 for Sete, while Narbonne made 8, exactly half.
Tours walks on Nantes, winning in straight sets without too much difficulty. Even in the second set, when Nantes tried a comeback, Tours proved to be on another level. Egleskalns was the best scorer of the match with 15 points, followed by Chinenyeze with 13. In Nantes only Noda Blanco reached a double digit performance scoring 10 points.
After a series of defeats, Rennes back to victory, winning away against Poitiers in four sets, thanks to an incredible performance by Van Den Dries, author of 32 points (including 3 blocks and an ace) and 61% in attack. Good performance also for Georgiev, author of 15 points including 5 winning blocks, while in Poitiers the top scorers were El Graoui with 23 points and Kutsmus with 18.
What a match for Nice! In Chaumont, Kasic’s team gained 3 important points and confirmed their fourth place in the standings. The setter Coric, really played a great match, and the hosts have made only one block throughout the match (against the 12 of Nice, 4 signed Coric and 3 Ah-Kong). Overbeeke was the top scorer once again with 19 points and 58% in attack, while Bartoš also contributed, playing a really excellent match: 15 points and 65% in attack. For Chaumont, without Saeta, injured, Winkelmuller scored 16 points and Atanasov added 15.
Great, incredible victory also for Cannes, in straight sets against Toulouse (the photogallery of the match is available). Everything is perfect for Cannes, who won the first set without too much difficulty 25-20, despite a balanced start, and a situation unlocked by two consecutive aces of Koncilja. Second set ended 25-18 and despite the reaction of Toulouse in the third, which immediately starts strong, intent on extending the game, Cannes believes it and takes home one of the most exciting victories this season. Cannes is still at the bottom of the standings, but anything can happen. I have not seen the statistics of this match, however I can say that the whole Cannes team played well, and Hamzagic scored really many points, including the decisives in the third set, finally closed by the setter, Corre, in attack.
The picture is closed by another great victory for Ajaccio, who climbed to fifth place behind Nice but ahead of Chaumont. After winning an interminable first set, finished 32-30, the hosts also win the second set. For Tourcoing there is nothing to do, even after winning the third set hoping to reopen the game, and taking advantage of the decrease in concentration of Ajaccio, that deservedly closed this match, winning 25-20 the fourth set without lot of difficults. Milan Pepic and Nicolas Mendez were the best scorers among the winners, scoring respectively 22 and 20 points. Good performance for Ajaccio also at the service: 8 aces against 3 of Tourcoing. A Tourcoing, Ronald Jimenez scored 19 points, Klyamar 15 and Pascal 11 (including 6 winning blocks!) but they were not enough, and at the bottom of the standings is really still all possible……