Third time lucky - the French team celebrates the victory over Greece
Greece
vs
France
1
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3
France overcame some stubborn resistance from Greece to score a 3-1 victory in their first Pool B match of the FIVB Volleyball World Championship for Men in Fukuoka on Friday.
The French dropped the third set before clinching a 25-22, 25-22, 22-25, 25-17 victory at the Marine Messe stadium.
Though France were the favourites, they didn't have it all their own way as the determined Greeks made sure they gave their opponents a number of heart-stopping moments.
But it was the French who prevailed in the end as they matched group favourites Brazil in winning their opening match.
France took the early initiative by leading 8-5 before Greece, with captain Nikolaos Roumeliotis leading the way, clawed their way back to trail by just one point at 16-15.
Frustrated at squandering their advantage, France upped the tempo with Frantz Granvorka and Guillaume Samica at the forefront to surge ahead 20-16 following a disputed call in France's favour and a great French block.
Trailing 23-18, Greece went on a three-point spree before Granvorka gave France set point with a fierce spike from the right. The French took the set after a Greece foul at the net.
Granvorka was responsible for four of France's 8-7 lead in the second set though the Greeks were pushing them point for point with Roumeliotis and Sotirios Pantaleon playing key roles.
Indeed, Greece took a grip on the set as a worried France realised that Granvorka was their principal source of points.
And when his spike was blocked by the Greek defence for 11-14, French coach Phillipe Blain was forced to call in is players for a talking to.
Samica's winner on the left brought France to within 13-14 and they then levelled it when Greece failed to get the ball over the net.
A series of defensive winners allowed France to come back from 15-17 to 17-17. The Greeks kept a one-point buffer going until they led 21-19 but Granvorka, yet again, hit one from the right to knot it at 22-22
Florian Kilama and Oliver Keiffer took France to set point and the ever reliable Granvorka nailed a right-sided spike to put the French two up.
Pantaleon played a major part in helping Greece go 5-1 up in the third with his two quick winners from the middle.
Ilias Lappas joined him in pounding the French defence as Greece stormed to an 8-3 first time out lead.
Greece probably felt they could have led by more than their 16-11 advantage at the second time out. Some service erros and winners from Romain Vadeleux and Granvorka kept the French within range while Roumeliotis, Konstantinos Christofidelis and Pantaleon were on fire for Greece.
Weak finishing and some indecision in their ranks saw Greece allow France to come back to 17-18 but Roumeliotis' fierce spike raised his team's tempo again as the Greeks went 20-17 up.
Lappas took Greece to set point and a French double touch gave the set to the Greeks to make the score 2-1 to France.
The statistics at the end of the third set starkly reflected France's reliability on Granvorka, whose 19 spikes was 12 ahead of the next best Frenchan, Samica. Roumeliotis was the Greek leader with 15 spikes.
Granvorka got some help from Vadeleux, captain Stephane Antiga and Samica as France led 8-3 at the first technical time out.
But the flying French No. 9 was the still their main attacker, smashing a spike and serving a searing ace to take his team 11-5 up.
Greece seemed to have used up their fight during the third set as they stood by and watched France run away to a 16-9 fourth-set lead.
Kieffer started to take a leading role in the attack, reducing the burden on Granvorka, as France went 20-13 up.
He set up match point for France and, though Greece saved three of them, the French claimed victory when, fittingly, Granvorka hit the winner with his 27th spike of the game.
