Belgium defeats France by 3-1 in Pool C match: 2011 CEV Volleyball European Championship
The first match of Pool C of the 2011 CEV Volleyball European Championship took place between Belgium and France. The match was hosted by the Austrian city of Innsbruck on Sunday, September 11. The clash that followed between the two sides was one that each
team will not forget for a long time as it featured a total of 23 set balls. After a period of 125 minutes, it was the Belgian side that were declared as the well deserving victors of the game.
The first two sets of the match were intensely competitive, with the first one going to Belgium and the second one being grabbed by France. The third set saw the French tire a little in the end that gave away the frame to the Belgian squad. The fourth set
propelled the French to step up their game but despite a commendable effort, it was the Belgian side that finally sealed the deal on the match at the following final set scores: 31-29, 34-36, 25-20 and 26-24.
The Belgian coach, Claudio Gewehr, expressed his sentiments by stating that he was, “really satisfied with my team’s performance. In my opinion, the deciding moment was the second set when we fought back and almost stroke it.”
Pierre Pujol of the French delegation expressed himself in the following words after the match had reached its close: “We played really bad today. Our reception and service was terrible. Belgium deserved to win. Now we need to prepare well for our next match
against Italy”.
The Belgian side was able to take the lead early on in the opening set at 12-8 but the French soon overtook them and got the advantage at 19-16. However, the Belgians were in no mood to give up the chase and they brought the score to 24-22. The French tried
hard to seal the deal on the opening set but Belgium prevailed in bagging the frame at 31-29.
The French took the lead in the second set but Belgium was able to close in the gap at 19-14 and later on at 23-21. Despite the fact that Belgium kept on the tail, the French remained successful in equalising the match at 36-34.
The third set was tough in the start but the Belgians were able to move ahead and bag another win at 25-20 in the end. The fourth set followed the same pattern as the first two sets of the game and ended in the favour of the Belgian side 26-24.
Despite the fact that the French lost the match, their player Earvin Ngapeth was able to lead all scorers after having registering a total of 23 points for his team in the entire match. On the Belgian side, Gert van Walle remained the lead scorer by tallying
22 points in all.
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