Varna, Bulgaria, July 10, 2015 – Bulgaria and France are the two winners of Friday’s semifinals in Group 2 of FIVB Volleyball World League 2015 and will measure up against each other in Saturday’s final match in Varna for a ticket to the Final Six in Brazil and promotion to Group 1 of the competition. This game will start at 17:40 GMT. Three hours earlier, at 14:40 GMT, Belgium and Argentina will battle it out for the third place.
The home team showed some great serving and scored 12 aces to turn the course of the game against Belgium and win it by 3-1 (23-25, 25-14, 25-18, 25-20). ”Good serving indicates good shape,” summed up the experience Bulgaria’s coach Plamen Konstantinov.
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The French team did not face too many issues in the second semifinal in Varna, cruising to a speedy 3-0 (25-13, 25-20, 25-17) victory over Argentina. ”We have a fantastic Antonin Rouzier - serving and attacking well, Benjamin Toniutti setting great, our passing was good...,” said France’s mentor Laurent Tillie, happy at the press conference after the match.
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Key Points
• This was the first ever World League match between Bulgaria and Belgium, so now the record is set at 1-0 in favour of the Balkan team.
• Bulgaria have put an end to their losing streak of 10 consecutive World League matches against fellow CEV nations.
• Bulgaria are on nine wins this campaign to match their total number of wins of their previous two World League seasons (2013, 2014) combined, as well as Belgium’s count from this year.
• France have kept their status as the only unbeaten team left in the 2015 World League.
• France are undefeated in their last 13 World League matches (all this season), their longest winning streak ever in the competition.
• France and Argentina have met 19 times in World League history and the record is now at 11-8 wins in favour of France.
• France have won six of their last seven World League matches against Argentina.