France vented its ire on Iran, scoring an easy 25-21, 25-17, 25-20 win to get back on track in the Volleyball Nations League (VNL) men’s Week 3 Friday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Opposite spiker Jean Patry hammered 16 points on 13 hits, two blocks and an ace as the reigning Olympic gold medalist avenged its 23-25, 27-25, 20-25, 23-25 defeat at the hands of Germany on Wednesday.
Trever Clevenot added 12 to backstop Patry with Antoine Brizard orchestrating the French onslaught with 23 sets.
France jumped to 7-3 for solo fourth place and inside track to a sure spot in the Top 8 just behind Slovenia (9-1), Italy (8-2) and reigning champion Poland (7-2), which will host the eight-team Final Round next week.
The world No. 7 France is already locked for the Paris Olympics, which it will host next month – making the VNL a perfect stage to sharpen its preparations with hopes of winning it all as well.
France will continue its journey for that mission against world No. 5 and Philippine crowd favorite Japan at 7 p.m. on Saturday.
Iran, on the other hand, had its amazing run end as Milad Ebadipour Ghara served as the lone bright spot with 10 points.
Though already out of contention, now world No. 15 Iran came off two straight wins against world No. 13 the Netherlands, 25-22, 22-25, 25-21, 20-25, 15-10, and world No. 6 USA, 28, 25-23, 25-18, 26-28, 15-13.
Iran slipped to 2-9 at 15th place of the 16-team VNL and will wrap up its campaign against Germany on Sunday.
