Germany pulled the rug from under Olympic gold medalist France, 25-23, 25-27, 25-20, 25-23, to keep its final round hopes alive and kicking in Week 3 of the Volleyball Nations League men’s tournament on Wednesday, June 19, at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
Five players hit twin digits led by Gyorgi Grozer with 21 points on 18 hits, two aces and a block as the Germans improved to 4-5 to stay in the thick of the race for a Top-8 finish and a ticket in the finale.
Germany, one of the seven teams already qualified in the Paris Olympics also next month, tied the eighth-running Cuba in points (12) for the last slot in the final round slated in Poland, the reigning VNL champion, next week.
Grozer, the ace outside hitter, drew ample support from Moritz Reichert and Lukas Maase with 12 points each as well as Tobias Krick and Tobias Brand with 10 points apiece.
“I believe that we really had an amazing week in Japan (last leg) that led to this performance and our main players are coming back. We’ve been playing without them. I can see that our game is going up,” said coach Michal Winiarski, whose wards went 2-1 in Fukouka earlier this month to stay afloat after a sluggish start.
Germany did, stunning an in-form French unit gearing up for the hosting of the Summer Games.
The Germans could have scored a shutout if not for a close 25-27 defeat in the extended second set but still made sure to keep the French at bay amidst its furious rally in the fourth set for a potential rubber.
Staring at two-point deficit late in the fourth salvo, the world No. 9 Germany uncorked a killer 6-2 closeout to finish off the world No. 7 France.
Jean Patry, Trevor Clevenot and Yacine Louati rifled in 20, 16 and 10 points, respectively, but their efforts went for naught in France’s costly defeat to fall at No. 5 with a 6-3 slate.
A win by the Olympic kings could have pushed them to solo third place for a safer chance in Top 8 but instead allowed a window of opportunity from trailing Japan (6-3) and Canada (5-4) as well as Cuba and Germany in the airtight race to the top.
Germany takes little to no break with another crucial outing against Canada at 11 a.m. on Thursday as France returns to action with vengeance on mind against Iran at the same time on Friday.
