Earvin Ngapeth helped France to the World League final with 19 points
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 18, 2015 – France will play Serbia in the FIVB Volleyball World League final on Sunday after they beat world champions Poland 3-2 (25-23, 25-23, 19-25, 22-25, 17-15) in the second semifinal on Saturday.
It means there will be a brand new World League champion as neither team has won the tournament before. Serbia lost the 2008 and 2009 finals, as well as the 2003 and 2005 finals when they competed as Serbia and Montenegro. They also won bronze in 2010 and 2004 as Serbia and Montenegro.
France previously won silver in 2006 and they reached the 2015 final in part thanks to Antonin Rouzier’s 25 points. Poland’s Bartosz Kurek was the match top scorer with 28 points.
Rouzier and Earvin Ngapeth led the French attack in the first set in which Rouzier hit the winning points. Ngapeth then did the same to win the second set with a spike.
Poland rediscovered their form in the third set and quickly opened to a 13-8 lead. Despite France’s best efforts they were unable to find a way back and Poland closed out the set for 2-1 and they drew level after a poor Nicolas Marechal serve.
In the tie-break the teams were evenly match, but after reaching 15-15, Ngapeth hit a spike and a block to win the match 17-15.
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