Eurovolley 1/8 Finals: France easily qualify for quarterfinals. Finland destroyed in straight sets.

France win easily, even if it wasn’t not of their best games, in front of 7293 supporters at Parc des Expositions Hall XXL in Nantes.
At the end of the third set, French players decided to repay them for their support. France head coach Laurent Tillie called a time-out at 24-20 so that he and his players can watch fans make so-called Mexican waves on the stands.
They easily defeated the rivals in straight sets despite being behind most of the second. However, France was much too strong. Coach Laurent Tillie opted for Ngapeth and his son Kévin Tillie to play as outside hitters, while one the best of the poo phase, Lyneel, remained on the bench.
Boyer scores 19 points and was top scorer of the match while Ngapeth added 16. Sinkkonen and Siirila made 3 winning blocks each for Finland.
France will have to wait until tomorrow to know the identity of their opponents for the quarterfinals which will occur on Tuesday at 8:45pm, alsways in Nantes.

Earvin Ngapeth – France’s outside hitter:
“It’s wonderful to play in such an atmosphere of course, it’s the first time that we have that in France. But the real match will be next Tuesday, so hopefully the crowd will be even able to top itself, even though it was incredible tonight.”

Antti Siltala – Finland’s outside hitter:
“We lost the reception/pass battle, and we cannot win in these conditions. Reaching the quarterfinals was our main goal but we may have been able to go further.”

Eight Final Matches (NED) – APELDOORN, NED
The Netherlands – Germany 1-3 (17:25, 22:25, 32:30, 23:25)
Poland – Spain 3-0 (25:18, 25:13, 25:16)

Eight Final Matches (SLO) – LJUBLJANA, SLO
Russia – Greece 3-0 (25:16, 25:15, 25:16)
Slovenia – Bulgaria 3-1 (25:27, 25:17, 25:16, 25:17)

Eight Final Matches (BEL) – ANTWERP, BEL
Serbia – Czech Repulic 3-0 (31:29, 25:21, 25:18) —GALLERY—
Belgium – Ukraine 2-3 (22:25, 25:21, 25:14, 18:25, 10:15) —GALLERY—

Eight Final Matches (FRA) – NANTES, FRA
France – Finland 3-0 (25:16, 25:23, 25:21)
Italy – Turkey 3-0 (25:22, 25:18, 25:21)

Source and Photos: CEV