Press release

Bahia Blanca, Argentina, August 26, 2011 – France made a miraculous comeback from two sets down and qualified to the semifinals of the 2011 FIVB Boy’s Youth World Championship by defeating Bulgaria 3-2 (22-25, 22-25, 25-17, 25-22, 15-11) on Friday morning.

France improved to 2-1 and 6 points in Pool F where Spain has 5 points and one match to play against Greece.

Five French players led by Soane Falalafala’s 18 points finished in double digits. Trevor Clevenot followed with 15 while Quentin Jouffroy, Thibault Rossard and Antoine Brizard added 13, 12 and 11 respectively. Ivan Ivanov led Bulgaria with 16 followed by Petar Nenkov with 11 and Radoslav Popov and Stanislav Velichkov each with 10.

Bulgaria led 8-5 and 16-12 in the first set against a sleepy France committing too many mistakes. Ivanov and Nenkov are the main players of Bulgaria in the opening set with 7 and 4 points respectively while lefty Rossard is the only French player showing energy as he finishes with 5 points. One spiking error by Brossard hands the set to Bulgaria 25-22.

Bulgaria continues to play steady and is in front 8-4 at the first technical time out while is the other side of the coin for France which can’t find rhythm. The picture begins to change for the French side with the trio of Clevenot, Rossard and Falafala receiving the wake-up call. The gap is close at 16-15 in favor of Bulgaria, but the amount of errors from the French side is to much as they give away 12 points. It is 25-22 again in favor of Bulgaria following an opponent’s error.

In the third set France woke up completely and attacked right away from the first play. They won the race to the first time-out 8-5 playing with better level than Bulgaria and continued on the same path leading 16-11 at the second stop with Bulgaria showing problems with the defense. Falafala finished the set with 7 kills and one ace as France took the frame easily 25-17 after the potent spike by Jouffroy.

Four unforced errors of Bulgaria enable France to take the lead 8-3 in the fourth frame. Bulgaria gives signs of recovery and is in front 16-15 at the second time-out with the spike by Ivanov. Teams battle point by point with Jouffroy standing out on the French side with his blocking ability. Bulgaria made a total 13 errors and France tied up the score by winning the set 25-22.

France roared ahead 5-1 in the tie-breaker and increased to 8-1 with strong serves and blocks. When teams traded sides the outcome of the match appeared to be practically decided. Then Bulgaria shortened the distance to only three points at 14-11 before the anticipated finish 15-11.