Earvin Ngapeth and Trévor Clévenot were the main catalysts of the French comeback, leading the team’s scoring efforts in the match. Ngapeth, the MVP of the Tokyo Olympics, tallied 21 points (17 kills, three blocks, one ace), while Clévenot contributed another 20 (19 kills, one block). Opposite Theo Faure came off the bench in the third set to tally 11 points.
"It was such a crazy match," libero Jenia Grebennikov reflected. "They pushed a lot with their serves at the start and with the power of their attack, it was also very difficult for our blocking and defense to work. We managed to stay in the game and I think their serving level dropped a little bit during the third set, which got us a little more comfortable. The fans were amazing tonight. At this level, a tie-breaker is typically 50-50, but with the fans on our side, I felt that we had the edge."
Germany had a more diversified offense, with opposite Gyögy Grozer leading the way with 22 points (17 kills, four blocks, one ace), followed by middle blockers Anton Brehme and Tobias Krick, with 14 each, and outside hitters Moritz Reichert (13) and Moritz Karlitzek (12).
"Right now we are sad, of course, but at the same time, there's not much we could have done better," setter Lukas Kampa analyzed. "We delivered the fight we wanted to deliver. We said before that match we needed to step on the throat and be as aggressive as possible, to show that we're here, that we're not willing to just be in the passenger (seat). We wanted to tackle them from the start, and that's what we did."
The tight margins of the match showed in the stats, as while France had slim edges in aces (three to two) and points from opponent errors (33 to 31), Germany registered one more kill (62 to 61) - the two sides tied in blocks, with 12.
