Olympic champions take charge and lead France to second victory

Olympic champions Trévor Clévenot and Théo Faure stepped up and helped France secure their second consecutive victory in the Volleyball Nations League 2025 on Saturday in Quebec.

Led by their most experienced players, the defending VNL champions endured a five-set battle against hosts Canada in a packed Centre Vidéotron in the first match of the fourth day of the tournament’s opening week. A few hours later, Bulgaria defeated Germany in another five-setter.

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The only two members of the team that won the second consecutive Olympic gold medal for France last year in Paris to have made the trip to Canada this week, Clévenot and Faure combined to produce an impressive 44 points as the Europeans took the home team down 3-2 (25-22, 29-27, 27-29, 21-25, 15-6), avoiding a Canadian reverse sweep in front of a record crowd of over 12,000 fans.

Elevated to the role of France’s captain this week, the 30-year-old outside hitter Clévenot tallied a match-high 24 points, with 22 kills and two blocks. Faure, a 25-year-old opposite, wasn’t too far behind, producing 20 points, with 18 kills, one block and one ace.

“It was really amazing to play in this atmosphere,” Clévenot said. “We enjoyed the fight against Canada. We have some great potential in our team, and our young players showed again tonight that they can fight anyone. It’s been amazing to play with them, they give 120% every time, and it’s a lot of fun.”

Canada had their scoring load split between outside hitter Brodie Hofer, who registered 15 points, and opposites Xander Ketrzynski and Ryan Sclater, who left the court with 15 and 14, respectively.

Nikolov scores 28 as Bulgaria beat Germany

In the second match of the day in Quebec, which also went to five sets, outside hitter Aleksandar Nikolov was the shiniest star in Bulgaria’s 3-2 (25-22, 22-25, 25-19, 23-25, 15-12) victory over Germany.

The son of Bulgarian legend Vladimir Nikolov had his most productive performance to date in the VNL 2025, leading his team with 28 points (24 kills, three blocks, one ace). Opposite Venislav Antov also appeared well, adding 17 points, all in kills.

“I’m really happy and really proud of the team,” Nikolov said. “It’s our second victory in the tournament, and we’re looking forward to the next one. We stayed in the match despite a very good German team. We never gave up, we dug some balls, we were setting well, and in the fifth set we managed to get some kills and to serve better.”

Germany, which lost their third tie-breaker in as many matches in Quebec, had outside hitter Erik Röhrs, who scored 18 points (15 kills, two aces, one block), and opposite Filip John, who registered 17 (15 kills, two aces), as their main offensive weapons.

VNL 2025 – Match Schedule & Results

Sunday, the last day of matches in Quebec, will be a busy one, with three duels taking place at the Centre Vidéotron – Argentina vs. Italy at 11:00 local time (16:00 GMT), Germany vs. France at 14:30 (19:30) and Bulgaria vs. Canada at 18:00 (23:00 GMT).

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