Beaten in Nantes, the Arago de Sète volleyball players say goodbye to the playoffs

Luc Marquet's group dominated in Nantes. – Laurent FRANZI

Men's League A (25th day). The Sétois were beaten with honors in Nantes this Saturday evening. Already certain of not playing in the playoffs after Paris' victory against Nice, Marquet's men are far from having failed on the floor of the finalists of the Coupe de France 2024.

Condemned to win their last two matches without going to the tie-break to still hope to enter the Top 8 synonymous with play-off, the players of Arago de Sète no longer had ;rsquo;other choices than to perform against an overheated troop. "We were not aware of the result between Paris and Nice (3-2 victory for the Parisians, Editor's note) in order to remain ultra-focused", explained the Hérault libero Devèze.

From the start, Zanotti and his team showed that they were going to make life difficult for the Ligeriens (6-8, 12-16). More attention, more pace for Arago who, despite the strong comeback initiated by Henno and Chizoba, was in the lead. And if the previous round had been dispatched by Massimino and his friends (25-16), the next one took a completely different turn. Although dominant for almost the entire set, the Boys Nanto-Reézens allowed themselves to be dragged down a very slippery slope during the final sprint (20-18, 21-20). Completely back on track, the Sétois stood up to their hosts (21-21, 22-23, 24-24). Saving several set points respectively, not a single one of the two clans wanted to let the victory of this marathon slip away (26-26, 28-28, 30-30).

Gonzalez and Bériot irresistible officiating in the oven and mill for Sète, a Huetz capable of being a detonator as often for Nantes-Rezé: it took almost forty minutes of heated debates to see the balance tip in favor of the locals.

Eager to see this penultimate day of the regular phase end, the tenants of La Trocardière pressed where it hurt, with their burning spearhead as executioner number 1, the sharp Brazilian Chizoba ( 16-10, 19-11, 25-16).

► Nantes-Rezé…………..3
► Arago de Sète…………1

Metropolitan Sports Hall of Trocardière.
Set details: 23-25 ​​(in 26’), 25-16 (in 24’), 32-30 (in 31’ ), 25-16 (in 24’).
Referees: MM. Lebalc’h and Brassart.

NANTES-REZÉ: 8 aces, 12 blocks, 60 winning attacks, 31 unforced errors including 19 on serve.
Starting six: De Leon (23), Chizoba (20), Chaboissant (3), Magnin, Massimino (Lib.), Montes De Oliveira (12), Henno (6). Then: Huetz (11), Bonon, Lopez (4), Lemeur (1). Enter. Hubert Henno.

SÈTE : 4 aces, 6 blocks, 50 winning attacks, 30 unforced errors including 18 on serve.
Starting six: Gauna (9), Gonzalez (14), Diop (5), Rajohari (1), Devèze (Lib.), Zanotti (8), Kreek (6). Then: Bergeron, Bériot (14), Rippert (3).Entr. : Luc Marquet.