08/05/2013 20:50
France and Belgium with immaculate record after second day is completed in Saint-Jean d'Illac
2013 FIVB Volleyball Men's U21 World Championship - European Qualification
Saint-Jean d’Illac, France, May 8, 2013. The hosts of France and Belgium keep a perfect record after completion of the second day of action at the European qualifier for the 2013 FIVB Volleyball Men’s U21 World Championship that is running in the suburbs of Bordeaux. France opened the program by routing Portugal in three easy sets (25-17, 25-17, and 25-19) in only 69 minutes of play. Belgium followed later in the afternoon finishing its job even a little quicker – 65 minutes – to edge Latvia in straight sets (25-19, 25-14, and 25-12) too.
With two wins and no sets conceded to their opponents France and Belgium are living up to the expectations and their clash on Saturday will most probably determine which side will eventually make it to Ankara and Izmir, venues of the World Championship coming up in late August. After besting Poland in straight sets on Tuesday, France decided to rest some of its starting players with Trévor Clevenot and Thibault Rossard following the game from the bench. However, their substitutes well exploited this opportunity to shine and Faipule Kolokilagi finished the match as France’s best scorer with 11 points, including 2 aces. “Everything was perfect for us so far. We were supposed to win easily today and we did so without making any mistakes. It was important to take three points from this game” France’s head coach Stéphane Faure said. “At the end of this week any set lost may have an impact on the final standing”.
The road to Turkey looks open for Belgium too as Jonas Reynders anchored his side with 14 points on their way to beat Latvia in straight sets. Belgium performed extremely well from the serving line registering 9 aces. “I am quite pleased with the way my team is playing and we did not have any problems so far” head coach Steven Vanmedegael explained. “Tomorrow we have a rest day and we can prepare very carefully before we take on our toughest opponents, Poland and France. It’s still too early to determine the real potential of my team because we haven’t played under pressure so far” he concluded.
On Thursday France will play Latvia before Poland and Portugal cross their ways for the second match of the day.
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