MATCH INFO
Spain takes positive step towards medal round
Spain scored with 15 blocks during the victory over France in five sets on Thursday
Bahia Blanca, Argentina, August 25, 2011 – Spain held off a spirited France in five sets (25-22, 25-17, 18-25, 15-25, 15-10) to take an important step towards the medal’s round of the 2011 FIVB Boy’s Youth World Championship.
The two-point victory gives Spain a total of 5 in Pool F while France added one point and stand up with four.
Andres Villena helped Spain’s victory by hammering 22 spikes and a total 26 points while Alejandro Vigil contributed 6 of the 15 blocks scored by the winners. France, which doubled its opponent in errors 40-20, had its best scorers in Trevor Clevenot, Thibault Rossard and Soane Falafala with 19, 16 and 15 points respectively.
Both teams traded blows going into the first technical time-out with France leading 8-7. Then Spain’s rhythm spiraled up and led 16-15 at the second pause thanks to the production of Villena who finished the set with 6 points. The power of Spain was evident and France team gave away 14 points in errors handing the set to the opponent (25-22) with the last one when the spike of Jouffroy landed out of bounds.
Spain led 8-6 at the first TTO. After an 8-all tie, Spain caught fire and built up distance from the opponent reaching the second pause in front 16-10. The four blocks of Vigil (6 by Spain in the set) and the continued attack from Villena put their side out of reach. Spain won the second set 25-17 when Rossard missed with his serve.
France was not ready to fold and stormed to an 8-2 lead in the third set inspired by the duo of Falafala and Rossard who each scored five points. The “bleus” enjoyed a 16-8 commanding lead at the second technical time-out and went on to cruise the rest of the set towards a 25-18 final score.
In the fourth set, France was running at full throttle while Spain was moving like with a flat tire. As a result, the French team won 25-15. Captain Clevenot recorded seven points, including five spikes and two blocks, while Brizard contributed two spikesm a couple of blocks and one ace. France’s biggest lead was 19-7 and went into the pauses in front 8-4 and 16-6. The set concluded with an excellent spike from Kaba.
Spain could find a solution to the reception problems and took an 8-2 lead in the tie-breaker where Villena totaled four points and France helped with many unforced errors. The big gap was somehow a relief for the Spain side which closed the set 15-10.
Download highresolution