Volleyball
France claim historic World League crown!
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Article Sun, Jul 19 2015
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 19, 2015. It was a historic day for France’s Volleyball family as Les Bleus crowned their triumphal march in the 2015 edition of the FIVB Volleyball World League with an unprecedented gold medal. France edged Serbia in an all-European final on Sunday at Maracanãzinho in Rio de Janeiro (25-19, 25-21, 25-23) with the podium being completed by 2014 gold medallists USA that in the bronze medal match beat Poland in three sets (25-22, 25-23, 25-23).
Gold medal match
Serbia vs. France 0:3 (19-25, 21-25, 23-25)
France claimed their first FIVB Volleyball World League title when they defeated Serbia 3:0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-23) at the Maracanãzinho Arena on Sunday. Their previous best was silver in 2006.
For Serbia it was a further final heartbreak. It is now the third time that they have lost the World League final and they also lost it twice when competing as Serbia and Montenegro.
France had qualified for the Final Six after winning Group 2 a week ago. This year they lost just once, 1:3 to the USA in the Final Six pool play. Antonin Rouzier and Earvin Ngapeth led the team in the gold medal match with 17 and 16 points respectively, while Aleksandar Atanasijevic scored 10 for Serbia.
In the first set France was soon 5:0 ahead with spikes from Ngapeth and Rouzier. Serbia drew level at 7:7 after some good attacking play by Atanasijevic. France managed to maintain a comfortable advantage through the set and took a 1:0 lead when Ngapeth hammered against the block.
The second set started in a more competitive way and France stayed 8:7 ahead mainly thanks to Serbia’s poor serving. Kévin Le Roux’s ace put France 16:14 ahead and they held the advantage to win the set thanks to good spiking from Rouzier.
Serbia’s Uros Kovacevic started the third set strongly, but France’s attack was working well and meant neither team could open a reassuring lead. Serbia tried their best to fight back, but France’s slick defence allowed them to close out the match with their first set point to secure a historic day for French Volleyball.
France’s mentor Laurent Tillie said: “To be the World League champions is a great feeling because it was a long run. We started three months ago. We played many matches with tough teams. We succeeded because we stayed focussed on each point. We were concentrated enough to use this chance in our favour. That is why we won today.”
France’s team captain Benjamin Toniutti: “We came here with less pressure than the other teams, because we were in the Group 2, but we knew that we could win. We beat Brazil in 2013 and we knew that we could do it again. I do not know how to explain the way we feel, but I think that we won’t think about this for now, maybe tomorrow. But we are very happy; we trained very hard for two months and a half and now we go back with this trophy for France and words cannot describe this.”
Serbia’s mentor Nikola Grbic: “I congratulate the French team; to lose is part of the sport. Today we did not play as we did in the other matches. Our team did not play as sharp as we could. However, the bottom line is that we had a great season. I am very happy with our performance in this competition. Also it was such a pleasure to receive so much love from the Brazilian fans that supported us all the time. We felt like we were playing at home.”
Serbia’s star player Aleksandar Atanasijevic: “We did not play very well today. Our team was not as aggressive as yesterday, but we can take lessons with this second place. Our team is young, we will rest one month and we will come back for training and looking for gold. We will focus on getting a spot in Rio 2016. It is a hard qualification, but we believe in ourselves. The fans were amazing: when the crowd called my name my heart was full. I expect to see these guys again next year. And would love to play here someday, why not?”
Bronze medal match
United States vs. Poland 3:0 (25-22, 25-23, 25-23)
The United States upset Poland with a 3-0 (25-22, 25-23, 25-23) victory and this way claimed the bronze medal of the 2015 FIVB Volleyball World League at the Maracanãzinho Arena.
Taylor Sander from USA, MVP of the last edition of the competition, led the way with 14 points. Dawid Konarski scored 12 for Poland. This was the fifth time that the teams played each other this year, with the Americans winning four times.
The United States attacked well early in the first set and reached the first technical time-out leading 8:4. A spike by Taylor Sander extended the lead to 13:7 later on. Both teams committed some errors, but the Americans maintained their lead and sealed the set with a huge block by their team captain David Lee.
The second set started with a sequence of bad services from both sides, with the team mentored by John Speraw always maintaining a small lead. Matthew Anderson caused problems to the Polish reception and the US team reached a 14:10 lead. Mateusz Mika was doing his role, Poland got really close to a reaction but the USA concluded the set by 25-23.
In the third set, the teams traded points up to 13:13 after another sequence of bad services. Konarski and Piotr Nowakowski recorded good blocks, Poland moving ahead 23:19. The American wall functioned well and the team fought back to seal the match with a huge spike by Anderson.
John Speraw, USA coach, said: “After last night’s challenging match against Serbia, I was happy to see our guys come out and play, particularly the first eight points, with such energy. I thought that this set the tone for the match. Our matchups with Poland have always been challenging, so it wasn’t going to be easy. We’re fortunate Taylor [Sander] went back and had that nice serving run to win this one in three sets. I’m very happy that we won the bronze. I hope we can do a little better in the next tournament. The World League was a great experience for us. We learned a lot about our team.”
USA star player Taylor Sander: “It was hard this morning. It was such an early match. Personally, I just said I was going to play the hardest game I’ve ever played and I did that. We started really well and that gave us a little bit of emotion and everybody kind of got going. We are tired. Four games in a row is super difficult. We left it all out there and we did the best we could to win a bronze and that’s all that matters at this point.”
Stéphane Antiga, Poland’s coach: “We had come here to get a medal. In this game we were counting on the support of the crowd. It was a positive thing for us. But unfortunately our reception didn’t work and this made the game difficult for us.”
Michal Kubiak, Poland’s team captain: “The game was difficult, and they were better than us, unfortunately, especially in the last points. It was great to be able to count on the support of the crowd, but unfortunately we lost the game.”
2015 World League Dream Team
1st Best Outside Spiker: Earvin Ngapeth (FRA)
2nd Best Outside Spiker: Michal Kubiak (POL)
1st Best Middle Blocker: Maxwell Holt (USA)
2nd Best Middle Blocker: Srecko Lisinac (SRB)
Best Libero: Pawel Zatorski (POL)
Best Setter: Benjamin Toniutti (FRA)
Best Opposite Spiker: Aleksandar Atanasijevic (SRB)
Most Valuable Player: Earvin Ngapeth (FRA)
Final standing
1) France
2) Serbia
3) USA
4) Poland
5) Brazil
5) Italy
For further information visit www.fivb.org
Gold medal match
Serbia vs. France 0:3 (19-25, 21-25, 23-25)
France claimed their first FIVB Volleyball World League title when they defeated Serbia 3:0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-23) at the Maracanãzinho Arena on Sunday. Their previous best was silver in 2006.
For Serbia it was a further final heartbreak. It is now the third time that they have lost the World League final and they also lost it twice when competing as Serbia and Montenegro.
France had qualified for the Final Six after winning Group 2 a week ago. This year they lost just once, 1:3 to the USA in the Final Six pool play. Antonin Rouzier and Earvin Ngapeth led the team in the gold medal match with 17 and 16 points respectively, while Aleksandar Atanasijevic scored 10 for Serbia.
In the first set France was soon 5:0 ahead with spikes from Ngapeth and Rouzier. Serbia drew level at 7:7 after some good attacking play by Atanasijevic. France managed to maintain a comfortable advantage through the set and took a 1:0 lead when Ngapeth hammered against the block.
The second set started in a more competitive way and France stayed 8:7 ahead mainly thanks to Serbia’s poor serving. Kévin Le Roux’s ace put France 16:14 ahead and they held the advantage to win the set thanks to good spiking from Rouzier.
Serbia’s Uros Kovacevic started the third set strongly, but France’s attack was working well and meant neither team could open a reassuring lead. Serbia tried their best to fight back, but France’s slick defence allowed them to close out the match with their first set point to secure a historic day for French Volleyball.
France’s mentor Laurent Tillie said: “To be the World League champions is a great feeling because it was a long run. We started three months ago. We played many matches with tough teams. We succeeded because we stayed focussed on each point. We were concentrated enough to use this chance in our favour. That is why we won today.”
France’s team captain Benjamin Toniutti: “We came here with less pressure than the other teams, because we were in the Group 2, but we knew that we could win. We beat Brazil in 2013 and we knew that we could do it again. I do not know how to explain the way we feel, but I think that we won’t think about this for now, maybe tomorrow. But we are very happy; we trained very hard for two months and a half and now we go back with this trophy for France and words cannot describe this.”
Serbia’s mentor Nikola Grbic: “I congratulate the French team; to lose is part of the sport. Today we did not play as we did in the other matches. Our team did not play as sharp as we could. However, the bottom line is that we had a great season. I am very happy with our performance in this competition. Also it was such a pleasure to receive so much love from the Brazilian fans that supported us all the time. We felt like we were playing at home.”
Serbia’s star player Aleksandar Atanasijevic: “We did not play very well today. Our team was not as aggressive as yesterday, but we can take lessons with this second place. Our team is young, we will rest one month and we will come back for training and looking for gold. We will focus on getting a spot in Rio 2016. It is a hard qualification, but we believe in ourselves. The fans were amazing: when the crowd called my name my heart was full. I expect to see these guys again next year. And would love to play here someday, why not?”
Bronze medal match
United States vs. Poland 3:0 (25-22, 25-23, 25-23)
The United States upset Poland with a 3-0 (25-22, 25-23, 25-23) victory and this way claimed the bronze medal of the 2015 FIVB Volleyball World League at the Maracanãzinho Arena.
Taylor Sander from USA, MVP of the last edition of the competition, led the way with 14 points. Dawid Konarski scored 12 for Poland. This was the fifth time that the teams played each other this year, with the Americans winning four times.
The United States attacked well early in the first set and reached the first technical time-out leading 8:4. A spike by Taylor Sander extended the lead to 13:7 later on. Both teams committed some errors, but the Americans maintained their lead and sealed the set with a huge block by their team captain David Lee.
The second set started with a sequence of bad services from both sides, with the team mentored by John Speraw always maintaining a small lead. Matthew Anderson caused problems to the Polish reception and the US team reached a 14:10 lead. Mateusz Mika was doing his role, Poland got really close to a reaction but the USA concluded the set by 25-23.
In the third set, the teams traded points up to 13:13 after another sequence of bad services. Konarski and Piotr Nowakowski recorded good blocks, Poland moving ahead 23:19. The American wall functioned well and the team fought back to seal the match with a huge spike by Anderson.
John Speraw, USA coach, said: “After last night’s challenging match against Serbia, I was happy to see our guys come out and play, particularly the first eight points, with such energy. I thought that this set the tone for the match. Our matchups with Poland have always been challenging, so it wasn’t going to be easy. We’re fortunate Taylor [Sander] went back and had that nice serving run to win this one in three sets. I’m very happy that we won the bronze. I hope we can do a little better in the next tournament. The World League was a great experience for us. We learned a lot about our team.”
USA star player Taylor Sander: “It was hard this morning. It was such an early match. Personally, I just said I was going to play the hardest game I’ve ever played and I did that. We started really well and that gave us a little bit of emotion and everybody kind of got going. We are tired. Four games in a row is super difficult. We left it all out there and we did the best we could to win a bronze and that’s all that matters at this point.”
Stéphane Antiga, Poland’s coach: “We had come here to get a medal. In this game we were counting on the support of the crowd. It was a positive thing for us. But unfortunately our reception didn’t work and this made the game difficult for us.”
Michal Kubiak, Poland’s team captain: “The game was difficult, and they were better than us, unfortunately, especially in the last points. It was great to be able to count on the support of the crowd, but unfortunately we lost the game.”
2015 World League Dream Team
1st Best Outside Spiker: Earvin Ngapeth (FRA)
2nd Best Outside Spiker: Michal Kubiak (POL)
1st Best Middle Blocker: Maxwell Holt (USA)
2nd Best Middle Blocker: Srecko Lisinac (SRB)
Best Libero: Pawel Zatorski (POL)
Best Setter: Benjamin Toniutti (FRA)
Best Opposite Spiker: Aleksandar Atanasijevic (SRB)
Most Valuable Player: Earvin Ngapeth (FRA)
Final standing
1) France
2) Serbia
3) USA
4) Poland
5) Brazil
5) Italy
For further information visit www.fivb.org