Volleyball Nations League:
Iran’s surge halted by Olympic champion France
Iran’s winning run in Week 3 of the Volleyball Nations League came to an end by a straight-set defeat (25-21, 25-17, 25-20) against France on Friday.
Inspired by back-to-back 3-2 victories over USA and the Netherlands in Manila, Iran was chasing only a third win in 11 outings in this year’s VNL but the reigning Olympic champion proved too strong for Payman Akbari’s men, who remained second from bottom in the 16-team table.
French opposite spiker Jean Patry led the European powerhouse to a seventh win in the preliminary round with a game-high 16 points, while outside hitter Trevor Clevenot chipped in 12.
Skipper Milad Ebadipour was the top scorer for Iran with 10 points, followed by Amin Esmaeilnejad, whose quiet night finished with seven points.
“France is the Olympic champion and their tactics and gameplan is much different to other teams in the tournament. Iranian players tried so hard to put in a decent performance but they were clearly worn out after playing 10 sets over the past two days. I hope the team will have a proper recovery for the final game against Germany,” said Akbari, who took over from Mauricio Motta Paes after the Brazilian coach was sacked following a loss to Bulgaria in the second week of the competition.
The top eight in the preliminary round will head to the Polish city of Lodz for the VNL Finals, starting with the last-eight round on Thursday.