France: Round 18 completed! Nice shock Poitiers. Tours, Tourcoing, Montpellier and Cannes ok

After the advance played on Thursday, in which Toulouse won on the field of Saint Nazaire in straight sets, and the away success of Toulouse over Saint Nazaire, Round 18 of 2025/26 MARMARA Spike League has been completed today with the remaining five games and not without upsets!
Nice celebrated 5th home win in a row after Ajaccio, Montpellier, Toulouse and Narbonne celebrating an impressive 3-0 (25:18, 25:16, 25:22) win over Poitiers.
| PHOTOGALLERY OF THE MATCH
Shay Liberman led the charge again with 19 points to his name including the 2 that closed the game through an impressive 70% in attack, 3 of his team’s 10 winning blocks, 57% positive reception and a well-deserved MVP awards, well supported by Dawid Dulski who added 16 through 59% in attack, 1 ace and 2 blocks.
Interestingly, Donat Brice, current head coach of Nice, celebrated their 4th win in a row and in as many games against Poitiers, his former club!
With this result, Nice back to sixth place in the standings with the same number of points of No.5 Plessis Robinson and at -1 from today’s rivals Poitiers.
Despite dropping one set, Tours continued their run with a 1-3 (20:25, 14:25, 26:24, 16:25) win on the field of Narbonne, in front of more than 3000 volleyball fans at Narbonne Arena.
After an amazing Champions League game in Italy on Thursday, current leaders played another great game led in score by Niko Suhikonen and Nik Mujanovic, who scored 19 and 18 points respectively, making the difference also from the serve line, recording 9 aces. Narbonne, on the other hand, suffered also the absences of Liam Patte and Wilner Rivas, but fielded new entry Pele, who left the court with 7 points and 39% in attack.
Behind them both at -5 with 42 points Tourcoing and Montpellier, both victorious today on the road.
The first one sweep last-placed (and penalized too) Ajaccio with a clean 0-3 (23:25, 21:25, 16:25), condemning the rivals to the bottom of the standings at -4 from second-to-last Saint Nazaire. Setter Bruno Dias earned MVP honors, while Venislav Antov left the field as top scorer with 18 points through 57% in attack, 1 ace and 1 block.
Montpellier, on the other hand, struggled more than expected on the field of Chaumont, closing the game only after a hard-fought 2-3 (25:21, 22:25, 25:22, 21:25, 13:25). The hosts, however, earned a very important point for relegation race. Simon Hirsch and Ezequiel Palacios led the winners with 19 and 18 points, respectively, while Quentin Jouffroy and Maxime Hervoir also contributed with 15 and 11, also reaching a double digit. Jacob Pasteur top-scored Chaumont with 22 points to his name.
Close the picture a great 3-1 (25:17, 25:21, 18:25, 25:21) home win of Cannes over Plessis-Robinson, who collected third defeat in a row after Montpellier and Nice. Decisive an impressive comeback in fourth set from 19-21, as well as another great performance from setter Kellian Motta Paes, author of 9 points with 2 aces, 1 block and 75% in attack! Joao Noleto and Xander Ketrzynski led the charge with 15 and 12 points, respectively.
Today in front of more that 1000 home fans, Cannes consolidated 9th place in the standings with 24 points, at +5 from their closest pursuers Narbonne and Paris.
Marmara Spike League will continue already on Tuesday with all games of Round 19.

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🏐| MARMARA SPIKE LEAGUE 2025/26 | JOURNÉE 18 | Round 18

Thursday January 29, 2026
• 20.00 (Local Time) | St-Nazaire – Toulouse 0-3 (21:25, 23:25, 16:25)

Friday January 30, 2026
• 19.30 (Local Time) | Sète – Paris 3-2 (25:20, 25:21, 18:25, 28:30, 15:13)

👉🏼Saturday January 31, 2026
• 19.00 (Local Time) | Nice – Poitiers 3-0 (25:18, 25:16, 25:22)
| PHOTOGALLERY OF THE MATCH
• 19.00 (Local Time) | Chaumont – Montpellier 2-3 (25:21, 22:25, 25:22, 21:25, 13:25)
• 19.00 (Local Time) | Cannes – Plessis-Robinson 3-1 (25:17, 25:21, 18:25, 25:21)
• 20.00 (Local Time) | Ajaccio – Tourcoing 0-3 (23:25, 21:25, 16:25)
• 20.00 (Local Time) | Narbonne – Tours 1-3 (20:25, 14:25, 26:24, 16:25)

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🏐| STANDINGS (updated on this day):
1. Tours 47
2. Tourcoing 42
3. Montpellier 42
4. Poitiers 30
5. Plessis Robinson 29
6. Nice 29
7. Sète 26
8. Toulouse 26
9. Cannes 24
10. Narbonne 19
11. Paris 19
12. Chaumont 16
13. Saint Nazaire 15
14. Ajaccio 11 (-3 penalty).

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🏐| NEXT GAMES | JOURNÉE 19 | Round 19

Tuesday February 3, 2026
• 19.30 (Local Time) | Poitiers – Cannes
• 20.00 (Local Time) | Plessis-Robinson – Sète
• 20.00 (Local Time) | St-Nazaire – Narbonne
• 20.00 (Local Time) | Montpellier – Nice
• 20.00 (Local Time) | Paris – Ajaccio
• 20.00 (Local Time) | Tours – Toulouse
• 20.00 (Local Time) | Tourcoing – Chaumont

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