Ruse, Bulgaria, September 14, 2018 - Without Earvin Ngapeth, France achieved second win in Pool B at the 2018 FIVB World Championship! Laurent Tillie’s players defeated Egypt 3-0 (25-22, 25-23, 25-16) and topped the standings with 7 points and one match in advance than Canada and Brazil. The most valuable player for the winners was Thibault Rossard who made an incredible match and finished with 13 points. Jean Patry added 12 and Barthelemy Chinenyeze scored 10. For Egypt Ahmed Abdelhay was a top scorer with 14 points.
25-year-old Rossard, who had the difficult task to replace Earvin Ngapeth in the starting line-up of France, led his team to the winning start of the match, scoring 7 points in the opening set (25-22).
In the second set Egypt played pretty well in attack and took a huge 4-point advantage by 16-12. Step by step France managed to come back and even took the lead after two powerful serves in a row by Rossard (20-19). In the next minutes France played with great confidence and after an unforced error in attack by Egypt, won the set by 25-23.
France continued to control the game and after another great ace by Rossard, the Europeans had a crucial 6-point advantage by 13-7. In the minutes until the end Laurent Tillie’s players were unstoppable in attack and achieved their second win in “Arena Monbat” after 25-16 in the third set.
It is a third straight-set victory for France against Egypt at this major volleyball event. The European champions from 2015 won the previous two encounters at the World Championships in 1974 and in 1978.