Rouen, France, May 25, 2018 – France dropped a set against Asian powerhouse Iran in their four-set encounter in the Volleyball Nations League, but French superstar Earvin Ngapeth believes that their victory in front of their home fans was more important than the setback.
France coach Laurent Tillie: “That’s a win, that’s what matters. The players were focused and carried out the game plan even if they stepped out of the game mentally at the end of the second set because of all the timeouts. As a result, we struggled to find the right pace, coming off a big week of practice. We are happy to have beaten Iran given that we lost the previous match to them in five sets. Tonight was a great game on our part.”
France player Earvin Ngapeth: For a post-break game, that’s pretty good. The whole match was off rhythm but we played well and then slowed down. I am happy that we won. We could have spared ourselves one set and we kind of fell asleep, but this was our first official game and it’s no big deal. The important thing was to win especially at home. We still had the feeling of control in the match from start to finish.”