Winner in Tours (2-3) During the second match of the semi-final of the championship, the MHSC VB will meet on Monday at the Palais des Sports in Castelnau-le-Lez (8 p.m.) for a decisive meeting in the qualification race in the final.
“Win or Go Home”, the expression used by American basketball players during decisive NBA play-off matches was taken over in their sauce by Montpellier volleyball players.
By beating Tours on the parquet floor of the Grenon room (2-3: 22-25, 28-26, 13-25, 25-22, 15-13), the MHSC VB obtained the right to return home to play a third decisive match for qualification in the championship final.
In order to prevail if they did not want to see their season end, Nicolas Le Goff and his partners achieved a huge performance to beat the TVB in five sets.
A speech by Olivier Nicollin
At the end of a tie-break they dominated, the Héraultais stay alive. “Playing in this Tours room, in front of 3,200 people was impressive, tells the assistant coach of Montpellier Gauthier Bru. People are close to the field, there is a lot of noise. With Loic (the Marrec, the main coach), it was difficult to get along. After the match and Saturday morning, I had no voice. ‘
To achieve this performance after being swept by this same opponent a week before at home (0-3), Montpellier perfectly prepared this meeting.
Olivier Nicollin, the boss of the group Nicollin majority shareholder of the club, even spoke in front of the group the day before departure to Indre-et-Loire: “In pre-match, I felt players without stress or fear, continues Gauthier Bru. The leaders asked them to believe it. “
Message received from the first exchanges: “We felt that the players had a form of determination, that they said to themselves:” We are going to do it “. We dominated throughout the match. The second lost set did not destroy us, we found our collective force. This victory really did us good and I think that she put a hit on the head of the Tourangeaux.”
“We felt strong as a team”
At each point, won or lost, the Montpellier showed positive signals in a hostile environment: “These are behaviors that we have already seen this season when we felt strong as a team, explains the Hérault technician. We were serene, in our bubble. The noise of the public did not impact us, we were serious from start to finish. “
The MHSC VB was carried by its leaders, Nicolas Le Goff and Ezequiel Palacios in mind. But not only: “Offensively, the team was performing. Raphaël Corre played a tactical plan. Nicolas and Ezequiel were offensively impacts. Tomas Lopez and Corentin Phelut stabilized the reception when Tours was used very well. And we were also good at the service like Dimitar Dimitrov.”
Finally, the players did not pay the euphoria at the end of the match, even less on the return journey to Montpellier by minibus then by plane this Saturday: “No one overplayed, we are happy but no more than after the Coupe de Coupe de France or the qualification against Cannes in the quarter-final of the championship. Everyone feels relieved, we offer the possibility of going to the final, we are ready to battle it on Monday. We are still alive but there is still 50 % of the way to do.”
