Nice : 3
Alterna Stade Poitevin: 0
After having turned the lights back on to green on the Tours floor (3-1) and benefiting from a week of traditional preparation, the Poitevins continued, this Saturday, a new trip to the Côte d'Azur, which had returned to azure blue with a climate spring to welcome the partners of Earvin NGapeth in the little cauldron of Gianmarchi-Palmeira, sold out and burning with impatience.
Nice, often classified as a play-down team, is nevertheless biting at the start of the season with a balanced record (3 victories, 3 defeats) which suggests a championship less irritating for the nerves like the first offensive firecracker of the MSL, Simon Hirsch (19.1 pts/match), symbol of the Riviera revival and still a great architect of Nice's success, against Alterna Stade Poitevin, with 24 points compiled including 5 aces.
Several devastating air holes
Poitiers was therefore warned especially since on the Nice bench sat Brice Donat, coach of the Vienne club for eleven years until this summer. A reunion inevitably awaited with the added bonus of the presence of Alexandros Raptis, the Greek receiver-attacker, former resident of the Poitevin house, who also had the fangs (13 pts). “I spent eleven years of my life in Poitiers. There are bound to be connections”admitted Donat before the kick-off of this meeting with the scent of top of the table, even if on paper, the players of the Canadian Dan Lewis seemed better balanced with a denser bench depth, reinforced by the experienced Argentinian Franco Massimino (36 years old), voted best libero in Marmara Spikeligue last year with Nantes, back from suspension and motivated by the idea of starting with his new club.
In this context there was adrenaline and excitement. After just over an hour and a half of the match, Poitiers left the floor with his head bowed, punished 3-0 by the intractable and indestructible Niçois eagles.
The statistics of the meeting.
© (Infographic NR-CP)
The scenario repeated itself on each of the three sets when the Poitevins experienced a devastating gap (6-1 in the first set from 5-5 to 11-6; 5-0 in the second from 6-6 to 11-6 and 8-0 in the last, from 12-9 to 20-9) which was fatal to them. Nikolic's 11 points added to Ngapeth's 9 points seemed very paltry against a well-established Riviera collective, sure of its strength and power behind the Hirsch tornado.
Dan Lewis tried to upset his team, by launching Thoral in the second set to replace Peter, then integrating Roatta, Byam and Gill into the rotations but everything went off the rails in the heart of each set, as if tension had invaded the players. The slim hope at the end of the second set which evaporated 26-24 after having recovered at 22-22, is not enough to forget a disappointing performance, far from satisfying coach Dan Lewis, already focused on the receptions of Paris on November 9 and Toulouse on November 15 to relaunch.
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