Volleyball: first success of the season for Montpellier who snatch the Super Cup from the hands of Saint-Nazaire
|Montpellier a fait céder le block de Saint-Nazaire. gaelle louis
For a first official outing, it was a show between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, Saturday September 21st as part of the Supercup in Nantes! A duel of more than two hours crowning Le Marrec's men, ideally launching their season.
A team from Loire-Atlantique had already severely taken a cup from them a few months earlier in Paris. This Saturday evening, in Nantes, there was no question of it being the same… Invited to the final of this Supercup which was initially supposed to be the great derby of the 44 – the NRMV disappearing from the tablets in the off-season – Montpellier HSC of the double Olympic champion Le Goff could not experience such a setback again.
Technical sheet
Saint-Nazaire 2
Montpellier 3
Nantes, La Trocadière.
The sets: (16-25 in 24’, 36-34 in 40’, 25-18 in 25’, 17-25 in 25’, 13-15 in 19’).
Referees: 60~/strong>MM. Collados and Brassart.
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.
𝑪𝑯𝑨𝑴𝑷𝑰𝑶𝑵𝑵𝑵🔥🔥🔥
🫡 @MHSCVolley pic.twitter.com/8uQCD8M72K
— LNV (@LNVofficiel) September 21, 2024
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…