By Le Figaro with AFP
Published
,
Update
Tours wins its ninth title. Federico Pestellini
Tours wins its ninth French championship title thanks to a victory in the golden set against Chaumont.
Tours was crowned French volleyball champion for the ninth time in its history after overthrowing Chaumont in the second leg final (3-0 after 0-3 in the first leg) then winning the decisive golden set (15-10) , Saturday at home.
The TVB wins its seventh crown in the last eleven editions and the first since 2019, and evacuates the frustration of a frustrating past season with three finals lost (championship against Montpellier, CEV Cup, the second European competition and Coupe de France) .
The Tourangeaux, indisputable masters of French volleyball for a good decade, even sign a domestic double since they had won the Coupe de France in early April against Nice (3-0).
“Congratulations to Chaumont, who showed in the first match that he was not in the final by chance. It’s a magical evening, in front of our public who carried us all the game. We learned lessons from our three lost finals last yeardeclared at the microphone of BeIn Zeljko Coric, the Touraine captain.
Chaumont, on the other hand, is still looking for a second star after that of 2017. Since then, the CVB 52 has lost four times in the final of the championship, including three times against Tours (2018 and 2019 before this year).
However, he arrived in a strong position at Robert-Grenon after delivering a recital on the way home (25-20, 28-26, 25-17).
But the TVB, under pressure in this particular and new format (removal of the support match), raised its level of play compared to last Saturday, particularly in service (6 aces) and reception.
He flew over the first two sets (25-16 and 25-16) before struggling more in the third (27-25), where Chaumont had two set points.
There was almost no suspense in the golden set: Marcelo Fronckowiak’s players, trailing 6-5, then inflicted a 6-1 on Chaumont to take control (10-6) and never let them go.
“The game at home was weird, it wasn’t the real Tours. Congratulations to them, there is nothing to say, they did an excellent game in service and reception“said at the microphone of Bein Sports Antonello Andreani, istant coach of Chaumont.
The man in that golden set was receiver-forward Luciano Palonsky, who was doubtful with a sore shoulder.
The Argentinian (16 pts in total including three aces) notably made two counters and a winning service during this tie-break before concretizing, as a symbol, the first match point of his team.