2018 FIVB MEN’S VOLLEYBALL NATIONS LEAGUE – WEEK 3/POOL 12
- June 8th-10th, 2018
- L’arena du pays d’Aix, Aix-en-Provence, France (8,500 spectators)
- Time Zone: GMT +2 (U.S. Eastern Time +6)
- FIVB World Ranks: #7 Argentina, #9 France, #11 Serbia, #21 South Korea
- Preview
- Schedule/Results
| Date | Time | Score | Set 1 | Set 2 | Set 3 | Set 4 | Set 5 | Total | Report | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 Jun | 17:00 | Argentina  |
1–3 |  Serbia |
25–20 | 23–25 | 15–25 | 22–25 | 85–95 | ||
| 8 Jun | 20:45 | France  |
3–0 |  South Korea |
25–21 | 25–18 | 25–22 | 75–61 |
Serbia def. Argentina 3-1
- Serbia defeated 20-25, 25-23, 25-15, 25-22
- Serbia moved to 5-2 (12 points); Argentina 1-6 (5 points)
Drazen Luburic racked up 20 points with 16 kills, three aces and a block, to guide Serbia to a four-set win over Argentina.
The Serbians followed Luburic’s lead, besting the Argentines in kills (63-54), blocks (8-5) and aces (7-3) to overcome 23 miscues. Argentina committed just 17 errors in the loss.
Four other players joined Luburic with double-digit scoring tallies, each excelling offensively. Srecko Lisinac tacked on 14 kills and two blocks, while Petar Krsmanovic added 12 putaways and a team-high three aces. Uros Kovacevic chipped in 11 kills and a team-leading three blocks. Marko Ivovic rounded out the offense with eight putdowns.
Cristian Poglajen and Facundo Conte paced the Argentine attack with 15 points apiece, turning in 13 and 14 kills respectively. Agustin Loser added 11 points, including nine kills. Sebastian Sole put up a team-best two blocks and chipped in six kills, while Tomas Lopez tallied seven points, all on kills.
Serbia jumped ahead 6-4 as the Argentines started the match out of sorts, but Lopez came through with some offense for Argentina as the team rallied to a 16-12 lead of its own and on to a 25-20 victory.
The teams played to a 15-all tie in Set 2, before Serbia’s block came to life to counter the offensive output of Conte and Poglajen in a 25-23 win to tie up the match.
Luburic and Lisinac lifted Serbia to a 6-2 lead in Set 3 and on to a seven-point advantage. Ivovic sealed the 10-point win at 25-15.
After trailing early, Argentina worked its way to a three-point edge at 19-16 in hopes of forcing a fifth-set, but Serbia came back with an offensive surge by Luburic to steal away the 25-22 victory.
Here are some post-match reactions.
Serbia coach Nikola Grbic: “It is always a tough match against Argentina because they have very good players. We didn’t play as we wanted especially at the beginning. I wanted to give rest to some players but this tournament is so difficult and we need the points. In the end, I had to use my strongest team to achieve this result. I’m happy about how we remained in the game even when we were two or three points behind. Our mistakes didn’t help and we had to earn each point.”
Argentina coach Julio Velasco: “We had too many problems in reception and service. Serbia served better and we were also a bit nervous. When you serve to easy, Serbia can play quickly with their middle blockers especially Lisinac. We had difficulty in blocking him.
“We will have another tough match against France, but these are important matches to gain experience for our young players. We want to prepare well for the World Championship, but we need to make less mistakes.”
France def. Korea 3-0
- France defeated Korea 25-21, 25-18, 25-22
- France moved to 5-2 (16 points); Korea moved to 0-7 (1 point)
France had the upper hand across the board in a sweep of Korea to the delight of the home crowd.
The French boasted the advantage in kills (41-34), blocks (9-7) and aces (3-2) and grabbed four more points on errors (22-18) to hand South Korea its seventh straight loss.
Jean Patry was in the driver’s seat for France, posting a match-high 12 points with nine kills and three blocks, despite playing in just the first two sets of the match. Earvin Ngapeth also checked out after two sets with eight points (3 kills, 3 aces and 2 blocks) in his pocket. Stephen Boyer took over in Set 3, scoring seven points, all on kills, in his lone action of the night. Four other players notched five or more points: Daryl Bultor (6), Julian Lyneel (5), Thibault Rossard (5) and Barthelemy Chinenyeze (5).
Jiseok Jung and Hui-Chae Song led the way for South Korea with 10 and nine points respectively, each tallying eight kills. Jae-Duck Seo tacked on six kills, while Seong-Tae Jin added four putaways and a team-best two blocks.
The teams were tied at 6 early on and Korea kept pace with the French thanks to Song and a strong blocking effort. It was a two point game midway through at 15-13, but the French rallied and pulled off a 25-21 win.
After a tied at 3, the French cruised to an 11-6 lead and on to a 19-12 advantage behind Patry and Rossard. Chinenyeze and Lyneel came through for good measure to close out a 25-18 victory.
Set 3 was again a see-saw affair with France holding the lead, but just a slight one-point edge at 16-15. Korea kept things close, but in the end, an unforced error capped a 25-22 win for the French.
Leave a Reply