France, 5th in the Nations League regular season, was well on its way to a great victory against Japan, 6th but with the same record – 7 victories in 10 matches. But the Blues ended up losing in the tie-break (3-2: 17-25, 19-25, 25-16, 25-23, 15-10) on Saturday in Manila (Philippines) in their penultimate match of the preliminary phase. The French team should still be there for the final phase next week in Lodz, Poland, with Earvin Ngapeth, absent from the match sheet.
Andrea Giani’s men wandered during the first two sets, won easily (25-17, 25-19) thanks to efficient serves and good receptions. Jean Patry (21 points in total) and his teammates left too little opening for Philippe Blin’s players, caught up despite the awakening of their star and captain Yuki Ishikawa (8 points in the second set).
Ishikawa and feu
It was the latter, a new player from Perugia after four seasons in Milan, who sparked the revolt. Omnipresent, the 28-year-old hit the mark on almost each of his attacks and took with him the Filipino public and his teammates, especially Paris Volley player Kento Miyura (19 points). In the end, Ishikawa finished with 33 points, leading scorer.
Largely dominated in the third set (16-25), the Blues got back into it in the next and even found themselves at 23-23, two points from victory. But they lost these two points. Too messy in the service, the French logically gave in during a tie-break where they were always behind in the score.
With this victory, the Japanese steal 5th place from France, which finds itself 6th before a final match, this Sunday (9 a.m.) against Brazil, 7th.
