Olympic champions France secured a place in the round of 16 of the 2023 Men’s European Volleyball Championship after beating Israel 3-0 (25-21, 29-27, 25-17) on Saturday night.
France took their third win in three matches in the six-team Group D, played at the Shlomo Group Arena in Tel Aviv, while Israel lost for the first time after two wins.
Attacking plays by Timothee Carle helped the French side win the first set, then Israel forced a close second set thanks to contribution from Genadi Sokolov, which eventually was not enough to make it 1-1.
In the third set, a high team reception percentage and aces by Benjamin Toniutti helped France to complete the job.
Carle registered 14 points for France, while Stephen Boyer added 10 more. Ido David finished with 10 points for Israel.
Earlier in the evening, Turkey recovered from two losses to beat Greece 3-1, who remained on one win from three matches.
Greece took the first set 25-22, thanks to points from Rafail Koumentalis and Alexandros Raptis, but Adis Lagumdzija, who earned a total of 14 points, inspired Turkey to reverse the result with 26-24, 25-19 and 25-23.
Burutay Subasi added 13 points for Turkey, while Yigit Gulmezoglu and Mert Matic contributed 12 each. Dimitris Mouchlias led Greece with a game-high 22 points.
With two matches remaining for each team, France leads Group D with nine points, ahead of Israel, Portugal, and Turkey, who have four points each. Greece and Romania amassed three points each so far.
On Sunday, Greece will play Romania while Israel faces Portugal. The first four teams will advance to the round of 16, along with 12 teams from the other three groups playing in Italy, Bulgaria, and North Macedonia.
