Suwon, Korea, May 30, 2015 - France struggled in the first two sets before overcoming hosts Korea 3-1 (28-30, 25-23, 25-18, 25-16). France's coach Laurent Tillie admitted that winning the second set was crucial for his team.
Benjamin Toniutti, team captain of France: First of all, I am very happy to win against Korea. But today's match wasn't a good one. I will have to focus on defence more tomorrow. Otherwise it will be very hard again.
Yungsuk Shin, team captain of Korea: I already expected that today would be tough. But we were going to win by taking home advantage and pressing France hard from the beginning. Our strategy worked well at first but we started to go down after our reception failed several times.
Laurent Tillie, head coach of France: We made lots of mistakes at the beginning. Korea did very well with blocking and service. I felt pressure on them. Actually I had no idea what to do in the second set. But thankfully our players didn't give up and kept focusing on the court. Tomorrow will be tough, too. Especially I will keep my eyes on Yungsuk Shin, Myunggeun Song and Jaeduck Seo.
Yongkwan Moon, head coach of Korea: I was planning to win against France by taking home advantage but I think the French team is composed of the all-time best players ever this year. In order to overcome European volleyball, we have to receive well first. But as you see, our reception wasn't good enough to surpass France. France's game was very smart by harmonizing their height, power and speed. If we had made deuce in second set again, today's match would have been totally different. Also I feel very sorry that I can appoint all the players on the court because of their injuries. I have to make a different plan tomorrow.