Volleyball: first success of the season for Montpellier who snatch the Super Cup from the hands of Saint-Nazaire

Spectators: About 1 800.

Saint-Nazaire:3 aces, 15 blocks (Van Der Ent 5), 62 winning attacks at 50% (Halle 18), 39 errors including 22 on serve. Ewert (16), Halle (22), Mendes Spencer (10), Van der Ent (10), Ivanov (3), Devèze (lib.) , Canham (1). Coming into play: Burel, Leon, Varier, Henry.

Montpellier: 8 aces (Dimitrov and Corre, 3), 9 blocks (Le Goff 3), 67 winning attacks at 54% (Dimitrov 25), 29 errors including 12 on serve. #Corre (5), Seddick (17), Palacios (13), Le Goff (12), Lopez Pascual (8), Phelut (Lib.), Dimitrov (29). Inputs: Spano, Coulet.

Once the hard gold central player was copiously cheered, the stands were legitimately seeing blue … but this time with a Nazairien nuance. And yet, the advantage was taken by the Héraultais who were not only more opportunistic but also found the right carburation more quickly in this first set (11-5, 20-11). Supersonic serves – sector where his opponent remained very far from the score … – validated a rushed introductory set (17-25) &hellip and analyzed by a Bertini who was always so meticulous, finding the right adjustments to reduce the waste in his men's game (9-5, 12-12).

A grueling marathon but a Montpellier sprint!

With confidence restored, good starts went hand in hand, like the Mendes Spencer – Halle duo raising their voices. A marathon second round, with SNVBA saving eight set points to finally win 34-36! “That's what I want to remember from this match: our ability to adapt, to apply another strategy”, the Italian technician said.

Dictating their law in the block, the French champions surfed on the momentum that had been set (5-9, 11-17) to take the lead (18-25). “We quickly understood that this great team would know how to push where it hurt: we lost our footing offensively after the second set lost that we had to take, admits Hérault coach Loïc Le Marrec. But the guys showed me that they had reached a real milestone by staying calm, ultra disciplined. I have real confirmations… and nice surprises (smile)."

A patience that could not be more effective, since the giant Dimitrov regained strength and his captain Palacios guided the troop towards a tie-break that promised to be hot after winning the fourth set (17-25). Because if Halle, a real Swiss army knife, found the slightest gap (6-9), the power and the southern palette paid off without the final sprint (11-10, 15-13). “I'm wrapping up the story!”, smiled the former local Lopez Pascual. Now, time for some essential rest. Because if they had an eleven-hour drive waiting for them to get back to their homes, it's a championship launch in Tours that's being prepared next week…