PARIS — A sold-out, predominantly French crowd had South Paris Arena 1 rocking Friday as Le Bleu rallied against Slovenia in men’s Olympic volleyball.
But Slovenia came away with a five-set victory by scoring the last four points.
That was the third match of the day before the USA played Japan. Earlier, Germany swept Argentina and Brazil did the same to Egypt. Recaps follow and so do Saturday’s schedule and the men’s and women’s standings before the USA-Japan match.
The Americans had already clinched a spot in the quarterfinals and were playing for seeding.
Slovenia, Germany, Brazil win
Slovenia, in its first Olympics, won 25-20, 25-23, 25-27, 22-25, 15-11 to finish 3-0 in Pool A. The fifth set was tied 11-11 when Slovenia took the lead on a service error. After a French hitting error, Tine Urnaut had a kill for Slovenia and the match ended with Alen Pajenk blocking Jean Patry, who had that earlier serving error.
Things got dicey when France thought Slovenia had a lift on serve receive at 10-10 and then France thought a ball hit the floor but was not called.
Ziga Stern had 24 kills, a block and three aces to go with 10 digs. Klemen Cebulj had 12 kills and four aces and Pajenk had eight kills, five blocks and an ace. Jan Kozamernik had four kills, three blocks and three aces as Slovenia held a 12-4 aces advantage. Libero Jani Kovacic had 18 digs.
“Beating France in front of their home crowd is amazing,” Pajenk told the FIVB. “There’s always a lot of drama in big matches and this one was no different.
“We showed great character to come back in the fifth set after they won the last two. I think we lost our focus a little bit at the end of the third set, but we went with all we had to the tie-breaker and I’m glad we won.”
France’s Earvin Ngapeth had 18 kills, two blocks, an ace and seven digs.
Germany advanced as it swept Argentina 25-13, 25-21, 25-21. Gyorgy Grozer had 11 kills, four blocks and an ace, and Moritz Karlitzek had eight kills, two blocks and three aces. Lukas Kampa had a kill and four aces.
“It feels amazing to have qualified,” Germany’s Tobias Krick told the FIVB. “We pushed through what was maybe the toughest pool in the Olympics and we’re super happy with how we played these first three matches.”
Brazil also advanced as it swept Egypt 25-11, 25-13, 25-16. Darlan Souza had 12 kills, two blocks and an ace, Ricardo Lucarelli had 10 kills and three blocks and Yoandy Leal had nine kills and an ace.
“We’re alive,” Brazil’s Bruno Rezende told the FIVB. “After the pool phase, we know we can play any team in the world at the highest level. We know we’re not the top favorites, but that doesn’t change anything in our locker room.
“We still have our goals and we work every day to keep our dream alive.”
Saturday’s Olympics volleyball schedule
Things get going at South Paris Arena 1 with two women’s matches — featuring four winless teams — followed by two men’s.
There are three pools of four teams each on each side and the top two in each pool plus the top two third-place teams advance to the quarterfinals.
At 9 a.m. local time (6 hours ahead of U.S. Eastern and 9 hours ahead of Pacific), the Netherlands (0-2) plays the Dominican Republic (0-2) in Pool C, followed by Japan (0-2) vs. Kenya (0-2) at 1 p.m. in Pool B.
The loser of the Netherlands-DR match is out with the winner hoping to make the final eight. It’s the same scenario for Japan and Kenya, but it’s not likely either advances.
At 5 p.m., the Poland men play Italy in a battle of two 2-0 teams in Pool B that are playing for seeding. The day finishes with Canada vs. Serbia, both 0-2 in Pool A. Even with a win, Canada cannot get out, but Serbia could, likely needing a sweep and some help from the USA. If Japan wins a set Friday night, Serbia is out.
Olympics men’s volleyball standings
This is before the USA-Japan match and shows the teams’ match records, sets records and total points.
