France: Tours win regular season a Round in advance. Win also for Nice, Sète, Poitiers and Montpellier

Disclaimer: this article it was written by me, Danilo, on March 18, and it’s protected by copyright.
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After an advance played yesterday in which Chaumont destroy Tourcoing in a direct clash for third place, and waiting for the game that will close the Round tomorrow between Narbonne and Paris, Round 25 of 2022/23 Ligue A continued today with 5 games.

Another verdict comes today, in the penultimate round: after taking a great victory in straight sets (21:25, 22:25, 23:25) on the field of Nantes in a direct clash for first place between No.1 and No.2, Tours officially won the regular season!
And they did it after deleting the better start of the hosts in all three sets, above all in the second, in which they started with a 8-3 lead. The third one was the most balanced, and not even the 23 points scored by Neves Atu Chizoba were enough to reopen the game.
MVP of the match setter Zeljko Coric.

About the fight to enter in the top 4 before playoffs, No.8 Montpellier (who remain at the eighth place, because also Sète earned three points today) inflicted another defeat to Saint-Nazaire, almost deleting the great start in the season of the newcomers: 1-3 (22:25, 25:23, 26:28, 19:25) is the final result, and (with the only exception of the win collected against last-placed Cambrai a couple of Round ago), this was the sixth defeat in a row. And in fact they slipped to the sixth place in the standings, only at +1 from Sète who today won with the same result on the field of now second-to-last Plessis-Robinson (23:25, 20:25, 25:20, 23:25).
U.S. opposite Kyle Russell was once again the man of the match scoring 28 points, 1 block, 49% in attack but, above all, he was impressive today from the service line, putting down as many as 8 aces (13 at the end of the match for his team).

Two irrilevant matches if we talk about playoffs ended at tie break.
Poitiers needed two hours and 23 minuted to defeated already relegated and last-placed Cambrai, in a game with lot of ups and downs in both sides, solved only at 17-19 of fifth set. Partially it was 25:18, 22:25, 32:30, 25:27 and 17:19, and decisive were the 16 winning blocks of the winners.
Tie break win also for Nice against Toulouse (23:25, 27:25, 18:25, 25:18, 16:14). The finalists of Coupe de France, that recovered starting opposite Celestin Cardin (who played only some parts of the game), were led in score by Brazilian Wilian Doardo (21 points through 61% in attack and 1 ace), while Gojko Cuk was named MVP of the match with 13 points through 67% in attack and 5 blocks.
| PHOTOGALLERY OF THE MATCH
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🏐| Ligue A 2022/23 | JOURNÉE 25 | Round 25

| Friday March 17, 2023
• 20.00 (Local Time) | Chaumont – Tourcoing 3-0 (25:18, 25:19, 25:23)

Saturday March 18, 2023

• 19.00 (Local Time) | Nice – Toulouse 3-2 (23:25, 27:25, 18:25, 25:18, 16:14)
| PHOTOGALLERY OF THE MATCH

• 19.00 (Local Time) | Plessis-Robinson – Sète 1-3 (23:25, 20:25, 25:20, 23:25)

• 20.00 (Local Time) | Cambrai – Poitiers 2-3 (25:18, 22:25, 32:30, 25:27, 17:19)

• 20.00 (Local Time) | Saint-Nazaire – Montpellier 1-3 (22:25, 25:23, 26:28, 19:25)

• 20.00 (Local Time) | Nantes Rezé – Tours 0-3 (21:25, 22:25, 23:25)

Sunday March 19, 2023
• 17.00 (Local Time) | Narbonne – Paris

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🏐| STANDINGS (updated on this day)
1. Tours 58
2. Nantes 53
3. Chaumont 51
4. Tourcoing 47
5. Narbonne 45
6. Saint Nazaire 44
7. Sète 43
8. Montpellier 39
9. Poitiers 28
10. Paris 28
11. Toulouse 27
12. Nice 24
13. Plessis Robinson 23
14. Cambrai 9

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🏐| NEXT ROUND | JOURNÉE 26 | Round 26

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