France complete perfect week in Quezon City

Reigning Olympic champions France ended a perfect second week in the Volleyball Nations League 2022 with their fourth win in six days in Quezon City, the Philippines, and remain rock solid at the top of the standings.

The team coached by Italian legend Andrea Giani didn’t slow down in their final match at the Araneta and defeated European rivals Germany 3-1 (25-16, 25-20, 19-25, 25-21) to end the week with four wins and a single set dropped after straight-set victories against China, the Netherlands and Japan.

The French now have seven wins in eight matches (21 points) and can only be equalled by reigning world champions Poland, who play the United States later on Sunday in their fourth match in Sofia, Bulgaria.

· Watch all VNL 2022 matches live on Volleyball TV.

Giani sent just three members of the team that claimed gold last year in Tokyo to the court against the Germans, and they were the ones who led the French victory in their last match in the Philippines.

Tokyo Olympics MVP Earvin Ngapeth shone the brightest as the French star produced a match-high 18 points, with 16 kills and two blocks. The outside hitter scored the final point in the first set with a huge block against Germany’s Tobias Brand, and also the match winner in a play that showed all of his skill. Ngapeth first dug a German spike before he placed a tip inside the blocker’s hands to score.

Opposite Stephen Boyer produced 16 points of his own, including a powerful kill from the backcourt that pushed the French to a three-point lead at 17-14 in the second set. Another Olympic champion, outside hitter Yacine Louati added 13 points with 11 kills, one block and one ace.

“We started really well with our serving and everything else,” Louati said after the match. “We had issues in the third set, I think our bodies started to feel the fourth match in the week, but we were still able to come back in the fourth set. We’re very happy with what we did here. We’re training a lot and preparing to be in our best shape at the VNL Finals and sometimes it’s not easy to do that and perform well in matches at the same time. We’re fortunate to have an excellent roster and we’ve been able to keep a good level of play no matter who is on the court.”

Opposite Linus Weber was the main scorer on the German side with 16 points. The 22-year-old, 2.01m-tall hitter tallied 14 kills, one ace and one block.

Volleyball Nations League 2022: Schedule and results

In the third and final week of the VNL Preliminary Phase, France will play the United States, Brazil, Argentina and Australia in Osaka, Japan, from July 5-10.

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Volleyball Nations League
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