France: Round 24 is over! Another ko for Tours. Sète, Toulouse, Nice, Nantes and Montpellier ok, 2 points for leaders Chaumont

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After the advance played yesterday, in which Tourcoing won at tie break on the field of Saint Nazaire, Round 24 of 2023/24 Marmara Spike League has been closed today with all the others 6 scheduled games.
Not a good moment for defending champions Tours, who suffered their third straight defeat in a row after the one on the field of Montpellier, a week ago and, on Tuesday, also the elimination from Coupe De France.
Today’s defeat was on the field of Sète, who celebrated a well-deserved 3-1 (26:28, 29:27, 25:19, 25:22) success after more than 2 hours of play. Tours suffered the bad day of their bomber Aboubacar Drame Neto, who left the field with 8 points to his name but with only 30% in attack (5 errors, blocked twice in 23 attempts), while four players closed the game in double digit for the winners: Lisandro Zanotti and Cheikh Diop, with 16 points each, followed by the two middle blockers, Maximiliano Gauna and Ardo Kreek, who also contributed with 13 and 10 points, respectively (including 5 winning blocks for the latter).
Sète remain at 9th place, at -5 from playoffs zone with other two games to be played, while Tours slide to the fifth place in the standings, also thanks to the four sets win of now No.4 Montpellier on the field of Narbonne – 1-3 (17:25, 24:26, 25:22, 18:25). Better above all in blocking, scoring 12 points from this element compared to the rivals’ 6, also Montpellier boasted four players in double digit, starting from an excellent Danny Demianenko, top scorer of the game with 16 points to his name through 64% in attack, including 3 aces and as many as 6 winning blocks, well supported by the other middle blocker, Nicholas Le Goff, who added 14 through 62% in attack with 4 winning blocks and 2 aces, Dimitar Dimitrov and Ezequiel Palacios, who also contributed with 12 each.
But nothing change in the standings, luckily for Narbonne, who remain second-to-last in the standings at +2 from newcomers Saint-Jean-D’Illac, defeated in straight sets on the field of a Nice that officially can celebrate their stay in Ligue A also in the next season.
With this win, in fact, Nice boast 21 points in the standings, a +8 lead from Narbonne and +10 from today’s rivals.
| PHOTOGALLERY OF THE MATCH
Partially it was 25:23, 25:19 and 25:22, and the winners played a great game in attack, with 61% in attack compared to 48% of the opponents. MVP of the game Matteo Schalk with 13 points to his name, all in attack, through 54%, well supported by top scorer Simon Hirsh who also contributed with 14 with 1 block and 65% efficiency.
3 points also for Toulouse, who down Plessis Robinson after a hard-fought game (26:24, 25:19, 26:24) ended in straight sets, and for Coupe de France finalist Nantes, who won on the field of Poitiers with the score of 1-3 (20:25, 25:23, 16:25, 19:25) to consolidate second place in the standings, led in score by a super Chizoba Neves Atu, top scorer of the game with 29 points to his name through 67% in attack and 3 aces. Metin Toy was once again the most prolific player for Poitiers with 20 points through 56% in attack and 1 ace, but he wasn’t enough and his team remain at 11th place in the standings.
To the top remain Chaumont, who today struggled more than expected to win on the field of Paris, but they did it despite the hosts’ 16 winning blocks (compared to their 10), and they managed to solve the game only at 14-16 in the decisive fifth set and after 2 hours and 31 minutes of play. Partially it was 20:25, 25:21, 25:26, 25:19 and 14:16. Top scorer of the game Czech opposite Patrick Indra with 21 points to his name with 2 aces, 1 block and 43% in attack, while on the other side of the net his same role Kento Miyaura put down 20, closely followed by Lucas Conde Barrios, who added 19.

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🇫🇷| MARMARA SPIKE LEAGUE 2023/24 | JOURNÉE 24 | Round 24

Friday March 8, 2024
• 20.00 (Local Time) | Saint Nazaire – Tourcoing 2-3 (22:25, 22:25, 25:15, 25:21. 12:15)

👉🏼Saturday March 9, 2024

• 18.00 (Local Time) | Toulouse – Plessis Robinson 3-0 (26:24, 25:19, 26:24)

• 18.00 (Local Time) | Paris – Chaumont 2-3 (20:25, 25:21, 25:26, 25:19, 14:16)

• 19.00 (Local Time) | Nice – Saint-Jean d’Illac 3-0 (25:23, 25:19, 25:22)
| PHOTOGALLERY OF THE MATCH

• 19.30 (Local Time) | Sète – Tours 3-1 (26:28, 29:27, 25:19, 25:22)

• 19.30 (Local Time) | Poitiers – Nantes Rezé 1-3 (20:25, 25:23, 16:25, 19:25)

• 19.30 (Local Time) | Narbonne – Montpellier 1-3 (17:25, 24:26, 25:22, 18:25)

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🏐| STANDINGS (updated on this day)
1. Chaumont 57
2. Nantes Rezé 51
3. Tourcoing 47
4. Montpellier 47
5. Tours 45
6. Toulouse 43
7. Saint Nazaire 43
8. Paris 37
9. Sète 32
10. Plessis Robinson 30
11. Poitiers 27
12. Nice 21
13. Narbonne 13
14. Saint-Jean d’Illac 11

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🇫🇷| NEXT GAMES| JOURNÉE 25 | Round 25

Friday March 15, 2024
• 20.00 (Local Time) | Chaumont – Montpellier

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