Volleyball: program, anecdote, history… everything you need to know about the Coupe de France semi-final between Poitiers and Montpellier

Le bloc, un atout maître à Montpellier. Midi Libre – SYLVIE CAMBON

This Tuesday at 8 p.m. in Vienne, Poitiers hosts Montpellier in the semi-final of the Coupe de France. Don't miss any of the latest information before the match starts.

At the same time as the duel between Poitiers and MHSC VB, Nantes-Rezé hosts Tours for a place in the final. The two winners will meet on Saturday March 30 at the Halle Carpentier in Paris to compete for the Coupe de France trophy. Montpellier and Poitiers have already crossed paths twice this season in the championship for as many Montpellier victories. The first in Castelnau on December 3 with a score of 3 sets to 1. The second, more recently, on February 24 when the MHSC VB made short work of the Poitevins with a score of 3 sets to nothing (23-25, 20-25, 21-25). This summer, the Poitiers volleyball club changed its name to Alterna Stade Poitevin volleyball. This is the first time that a men’s A League club has given in to the lure of naming and lent part of its identity to a brand. There was a time, not so long ago, when Poitiers dominated French volleyball along with its neighbor Tours. Created in 1973, Stade Poitevin won two French championship titles in 1999 and 2011. It was finalist in the championship in 2000, 2007, 2008 and 2012. The Vienne club also won the Coupe de France three times in 1996, 2002 and 2020. The Montpellier delegation arrived in Poitiers this Monday. Today, after breakfast, Loic Le Marrec and his staff led a video session at 10 a.m. followed by cleaning up on the floor of the Lawson-Body room then a meal and ;rsquo;a nap. The group will arrive on site for the match around 6:30 p.m. This Tuesday morning on the phone, Nicolas Le Goff spoke a few hours before the match: "We approach this match like any other. There is a certain pressure that builds in the semi-final as we get closer to the goal. You shouldn't put pressure on yourself because it's the best way to outsmart or even play with stress. We are aware of the stakes." The MHSC VB is complete for this Coupe de France semi-final and traveled with 12 players: Tizi-Oualou, Reichert, Demyanenko, Corre, Marttila, Le Goff, Palacios, Dimitrov, Seddik. Ruiz Posadas, Quiot, Spano,  Gomez.  All competitions combined, Montpellier (5th in League A) remains on five consecutive victories, the latest of which against Tours, Saturday in Castelnau (3-0). For its part, Poitiers (11th in Ligue A) has just suffered three defeats in a row with a score of 3-0 against Saint-Nazaire, MHSC VB and Chaumont and no longer has any chance to qualify for the play-offs. So he only has the Coupe de France left to play.  To reach the semi-final of the Coupe de France, Montpellier beat Nice (3-0) at home in the round of 16 then Toulouse in the quarter-final (3-0). Poitiers defeated Chaumont (3-2) and Tourcoing (3-1) on its floor each time. The meeting will take place in the Lawson-Body hall in Poitiers. The name was chosen in homage to Frédéric Lawson-Body, a Franco-Togolese volleyball player who died at the age of 31 on October 14, 1989 when he was a player at Stade Poitevin. I subscribe to read more