World League 2003

France beat Japan 3-1 (25-16, 25-18, 22-25, 29-27) - duration 1:54
24-May, start time: 20:07, end time: 22:01 - Attendance: 3,960
France strikes back -
Beaten last night by the Japanese, the French found the energy to counterattack Saturday evening in Nantes in front of 4000 spectators. Right from the first set, France set the pace by
Stabilizing its defense , very weak yesterday, regaining its block efficency ( 5 winning blocks in the first set ). 'Neck-to-neck' until 10-10 , the first set turned in favor of the French 17-10 ; thanks to the punch of Capet and Daquin, well set by Lemarrec , it went to a logical conclusion ( 26-16 ).
Surfing on its success , France sustained quality in serving and efficiency at blocking ( 6 winning blocks in the second set ) , to keep ahead of Japan ( 8-4 , 13-9 , 19-13 , 2518 ). The
French team shoved to an easy third set victory , until getting into a bad sequence of play. The Japanese upturned the situation once ( from 8-5 to 9-10 ) and a second time ( from 21-20 to 21-23 ) on two aces from Yamamoto which put Tanaka's players back into the game.
In the Fourth set French and Japanese edged past the other in alternative scoring battle ( 10-8 , 11-13 , 14-16 , 17-16 ) . Nevertheless the match balls were on the French side , and on the 5th try , and on a ultimate block from Daquin , France obtained a new victory , however difficult it was.