Volleyball: the invincible Nîmes M15s lifted the Coupe de France

Cinq matches et cinq victoires lors de la phase finale pour les M15 nîmois entraînés par Nicolas Agnèse et Ricardo Martinez.

Les Nîmois ont remporté dimanche à Narbonne la Coupe de France M15. Lors de cette phase finale, ils sont restés invaincus.

After winning all the national titles (indoor, beach and volleyball) last year in U13, the Nîmes volleyball players, insatiable, continued their harvest this year, brilliantly winning the Coupe de France U15, which won ;took place over three days, on May 24, 25 and 26 in Narbonne.

"The title, we had to go find it !"

"If we were the big favorites in the competition last season, that was not the case this year. The title, we had to go get it!", comment, delighted, Nicolas Agnèse and Ricardo Martinez, the two coaches from Nîmes.

Twelve clubs, survivors of the seven preliminary rounds and divided into four groups, were present in Aude. The top two in each group advanced to the quarter-finals. Announced undecided, the tournament was, with many twists and turns and an incredible level of play.

A tense tie-break in a group match

If Nîmes qualified relatively easily, winning on Friday against Pontet (2-0) and Marignane (2-1), in the other three groups, it was necessary to resort to set-average, or even at the point-average, to distribute tickets for the quarter-finals.

"Despite our two successes, these group matches were certainly the hardest, with a tense tie-break won 16-14 against Marignane& quot;, confides Nicolas Agnèse.

The reunion with Sartrouville in the final

On Saturday, the Gardois won against Paris UC in the quarter-final (2-0) and Narbonne in the semi-final (2-0). In the final, Sunday, they found on their way Sartrouville, the Yvelines club which had deprived them of victory in 2022. A very bad memory. The players from the two clubs, who have met regularly for three years, know each other very well, they are from the same generation.

Three individual rewards

The Nîmes, over-motivated, "were able to remain very focused and raise their level of play as the competition progressed. The title could no longer escape them", explains Nicolas Agnèse.
Nîmes won 2-0 in the final, finishing the competition undefeated and with three individual awards: Corentin Agnèse was voted best libero; Axel Draghici, best passer; Yann-Arthur Bastard, best striker!

With ASBA Montpellier victorious in Narbonne for the bronze medal, volleyball is doing well in Occitanie.

The Nîmes squad: Maxime Tuil, Clément Pradalie, Thibaud Portier, Natzev Krassimir, Corentin Agnèse, Noah Marka, Achille Germain, Axel Draghici, Amine Boukoula, Yann-Arthur Bastard. I subscribe to read more