Slovenia, France Complete Men’s VNL Final Four Puzzle

The semifinals of the 2021 FIVB Men’s Volleyball Nations League are set, as pool play wound up on Wednesday night.

It was an intriguing turn of events as the day played out at Italy’s Adriatic resort of Rimini.

Serbia started the day in contention for a Final Four berth (even on slim hopes), but were knocked out by Canada after blowing a two-set lead. Already trailing France and Russia on points, Serbia could no longer compete for a spot in the semifinals.

Then, France edged reigning world champions Poland in five sets worthy of the fame of the two sides. For Poland the loss didn’t mean much, but for France the win meant getting beyond the reach of either Slovenia or Russia on points or set ratio, should it come to a tie on matches won.

Semifinals schedule (all times local, GMT+2):

Saturday, 26 June 11:30 Brazil vs France
Saturday, 26 June 15:00 Poland vs Slovenia

Check out the final standings of the round robin phase

Slovenia played after France and had the chance to secure and claim what was by then the last remaining ticket to the Final Four, defeating Bulgaria in straight sets to go 12-3 and tie with Poland in second place – though Poland ranked above them on points.

It was a bit of a slow start for Slovenia, who had to come from behind to take the first set – Jan Kozamernik putting the last ball away on Slovenia’s first sideout opportunity at set point.

For captain Tine Urnaut, who celebrated his 200th cap with the Slovenian National Team, it was an extra special occasion.

Toncek Stern with 13 points was top scorer of the match, with young Rok Mozic who started in the third set replacing Urnaut also leaving his mark on the game with 10 points (8/10 for 80% in attack) including two blocks.

France and Poland came out in full strength – both in their artillery and in the rearguard, providing an entertaining match decided in the end by who probably needed the win more desperately – though there were plenty of errors on either side: Poland conceding 35 and France 33.

Poland coach Vital Heyenen started all five sets with the exact same lineup, but Laurent Tillie put in Trevor Clevenot for Jean Patry, Antoine Brizard for Benjamin Toniutti and Stephen Boyer for Kevin Tillie to start the fourth and fifth sets.

In the end, Earvin Ngapeth and Wilfredo Leon shared the match high of 18 points – the latter including all three of Poland’s aces.