When Nantes, which seemed to be controlling its evening at home against Levallois-Paris, the closest pursuer in the standings when the sixteenth Championship day was launched (34 points against 38), found itself trailing 20-12 in the fourth round against the Parisians, everything seemed to indicate that the meeting would be decided by a tie-breaker. But the game, which opposed the best attack of the season (1,372 points scored for Paris before the day, one more game played) to the best defense (944 points conceded, only 9 sets conceded in 14 outings for Nantes), was eventually decided by an enormous comeback in score by Cesar Hernandez Gonzalez’s girls, who had also conceded the first round (21-25).
American Taylor Mims (28 of her team’s 70 points) and her teammates gradually chipped away at their deficit. And then erased five consecutive set points to tie the game at two sets all (from 19-24 to 24-24), three more on the visiting team’s serves (at 24-25, 25-26, and 26-27), and finally clinched the round and the victory with a greedy 29-27 (3 sets to 1 in the end).
The Dutch receiver-attacker Marrit Jasper (15 points) alone erased four of the seven fourth-round balls played by Levallois-Paris
Beaten for the first time since December 2 (all competitions combined, including 5 wins in Ligue A and 3 in the CEV Cup), Alessandro Orefice’s charges slip to fourth place in the overall standings, after an evening in which the logic of the rankings was mostly respected. Starting with Vandoeuvre Nancy on Saturday afternoon, a logical winner over the France Avenir team, while still letting the third set escape (24-26) despite having largely dominated the debates in the other three (26-13, 25-18, 24-26, 25-13). A result that allows the Lorraines to overtake Paris Saint-Cloud in the standings (now second), as well as Mulhouse (third), relentless at home against the next-to-last Cannes (25-12, 25-20, 25-16).
Revived last week by their victory (3-1) in Chamalières, Pays d’Aix Venelles followed up at home against Marcq-en-Baroeul (3-1). Le Cannet offered a welcome revival on its ground against Terville Florange (3-1), allowing the hosts to come back in the wake of their victim of the evening (25 points against 27, respectively 7th and 6th). The match between Béziers and Chamalières was postponed due to a malaise in a spectator (who was resuscitated), the two club presidents, and the league agreeing to play the game at a later date.
