Eight teams played their last games of pool play Friday in the final matchday of the men's volleyball tournament at the Paris Olympics.
Pool A: Slovenia 3, France 2
France was the surprise of the tournament in Tokyo when they shocked everybody and won gold. So far in these Games, Slovenia has taken on that role as the team makes its Olympic debut.
Both France and Slovenia have already advanced to the quarterfinals, but this match still had plenty of importance. The winner would top the group and earn one of the top-three seeds in the quarterfinals, setting up a more favorable matchup to begin the knockout rounds.
Even though France had the home crowd behind them and is the defending champion, it was Slovenia that came out sharper in the first set. Things were tight early until Slovenia opened up a five-point advantage that held up in a 25-20 set win.
France seemed to be in control of the second set, leaving by five through most of the early stages, but Slovenia came back to tighten things up. Slovenia's breakout star at this tournament, Toncek Stern, was dominant once again in attack with 17 points on 16/27 swings, willing the Slovenians back into the set. They came all the way back and took the lead at 23-22 before winning 25-23 and leaving the French crowd in stunned silence.
That crowd would not stay silent for long as their defending champions rallied back in a huge way to stay alive in the third set. Slovenia held a slight lead throughout most of the set, then held match point at 24-22. France survived two match points there, then another when Slovenia took a 25-24 lead, and scored three straight points to steal the win. The set was capped with an ace that clipped the net and went over from Antoine Brizard. The Slovenians inexplicably did not go to Stern, who was 19/35 through three sets, with the game on the line and France forced a fourth set with its back against the wall.
France trailed early in the fourth but rallied back quickly to take a lead. Then, the French got rolling and started taking control behind a raucous home crowd willing them back into the match. Tied 14-14, France reeled off four straight points and never looked back. Outside hitter Earvin Ngapeth was held quiet early but got hot with France trailing and upped his point total on the night to 19 on 17/36 swings. France took the set 25-22 and pushed Slovenia to the brink.
The Slovenians held the early advantage at the halfway-point in the fifth and final set with a 7-3 lead, but France dragged them right back into a highly intense decider.
France just could not quite get over the hump. Tied at 11, Slovenia reeled off four-straight points to win the match. Stern was the star once again, with 28 points on 24/53 swings and three aces.
The win gives the Slovenians the group and a top-three seed, while France will go through in second place and its seeding will be left up to tiebreakers.
Pool B: Brazil 3, Egypt 0
Brazil was in desperate need of a win and it showed against Egypt, as the six-time medalists left no doubt with arguably the most dominant win on either side of the tournament so far.
They attacked the Egyptians right from the start in a stunning 25-11 first-set win. Brazil smothered Egypt with lethal attacking, going 9/18 in the first set.
The rest of the match was no different, with Brazil in complete control throughout both the second and third sets, which they won 25-13 and 25-16.
There was no one player that stood out above the rest for Brazil, with three players scoring in double figures and an efficient attack all around. Darlan Souza was the highest scorer in the match with 15 points, including a huge spike to finish the match. Lucarelli (13) and Leal (10) joined him with double figure kills. On the night, Brazil was an incredible 40/68 in attack, 10/36 on blocks and had 29 digs compared to nine for Egypt.
Brazil now sits in third place in Pool B with four points and due to other results around the bracket has clinched a spot in the quarterfinals.
Pool C: Germany 3, Argentina 0
Germany and Argentina kicked off the third matchday of the 2024 Paris Olympics volleyball tournament and it was not much of a contest.
The Germans dominated from start to finish en route to a clean sweep of Argentina.
They dominated the first set with one of the most convincing victories of the tournament so far, a 25-13 rout. The second and third sets were slightly closer but still dominated by Germany, with the Germans taking each by a score of 25-21.
Germany's breakout star at these games has been Gyorgy Grozer and he was The Man once again against Argentina, posting a match-high 16 points on 11/21 swings and 4/11 blocking. The German defense was stout with nine blocks and 24 digs.
The win gives Germany six pool-play points, which gets them through to the quarterfinals. The United States faces Japan in the final match in Pool C, and there is a scenario where all three teams end up with six points, which would make things very interesting.
As for Argentina, this tournament will go down as a huge disappointment as it follows up a bronze medal in Tokyo by crashing out without a single point in Pool C.
Pool C: United States 3, Japan 1
The United States clinched the top spot in Pool C and a top-three seed in the knockout rounds with a commanding win over Japan.
The Americans dominated the first two sets behind an incredible offensive effort led by Taylor Averill and Torey DeFalco. The defense was every bit as good as the offense, posting eight blocks in the first two sets alone.
Japan came in knowing if they took at least one set from the match they would advance to the quarterfinals. With that in mind, they stormed back to take the third set behind their superstar, Yuji Nishida. He finished with 18 points on 17/36 swings.
This night belonged to the Americans though and they took control late in the fourth set to finish off the match. In the final two sets, it was the 37-year-old and four-time Olympian, Matt Anderson, who turned back the clock with a vintage offensive performance to close it out. Anderson led the Americans with 16 points on an efficient 15/25 swings.
Both these teams are now into the knockout stages and will wait to see who their opponents will be after the final two matches of men's pool play take place Saturaday.