VNL 2025

Faure and Clevenot power France in speedy win over Ukraine

The defending VNL champs on fire from the serving line

Published 11:45, 25 Jun 2025

Ukraine (UKR) vs. France (FRA) men - Pool 4 - Preliminary Phase #48258616

France’s Theo Faure on the serve

The second competition week in the men’s Volleyball Nations League served off in Burgas on Wednesday with France’s emphatic straight-set win over Ukraine, hammered out with the help of a brilliant serving effort. With this win, the defending champions climbed to sixth place in the current VNL standings on a 3-2 win-loss record and 8 points, overtaking Ukraine on the way and leaving them in eighth place on 2-3 and 7.

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France did not need to resort to much help from the four Olympic champions that joined the squad for the second competition week. However, the two that were already in the team two weeks ago were on fire and drove France to a 3-0 (25-23, 25-21, 25-17) shutout of Ukraine.

France completely outserved Ukraine with as many as nine aces against just two from the opponents. Six of those were authored by opposite Theo Faure and outside hitter Trevor Clevenot combined. Faure aced as many as four times and raised two of the team’s nine kill blocks to finish with a match-high 18 points. To his two aces, Clevenot also added two blocks and 12 spiking points, including the overpass kill for the match winner, to tally a 16-point total. The other French outside, Antoine Pothron, also reached the double digits with 11 points to his name.

“We are very happy to win this game, because it was a difficult game against a good team and we didn’t make a lot of mistakes,” Pothron told VBTV. “The first set was so close and we needed to push in serving to win it. After that, we served well and blocked well, so it was easier for us.”

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The two Ukrainian outsides led their team in scoring with 11 points each. Tymofii Poluian put away three kill blocks and an ace, while all of Dmytro Yanchuk’s points came in attack.

“Of course, France are one of the best teams in the world and they showed us their serve, for example. They pushed a lot, while our reception was pretty bad today,” Ukraine’s setter Serhii Yevstratov said. “This was a big lesson for us and we have a lot to improve.”

The week’s first competition day continues with the match between Germany and Cuba, currently taking place over in Belgrade. The second match in Burgas, between Turkiye and Slovenia, starts at 16:00 local time (13:00 UTC). Another six games will follow on Wednesday’s program in Belgrade, Burgas and Chicago.