Paris (AFP)

The beautiful summer of French volleyball continues: a few weeks after the Olympic coronation of the men's team, the Bleues climbed to the quarterfinals of Euro-2021, overthrowing the Croats (3-2) in the tie-break (16 -25, 25-21, 22-25, 25-22, 15-12) Sunday in Belgrade.

Led 2 sets to 1, the French volleyball players bent the finalists of the last Golden League (lower level than the League of Nations) and find the quarterfinals of a European Championship for the first time since 2013.

The young Bleues (less than 22 years old on average) will face the winner of the match between Serbia, two-time title holders, and Hungary, who face each other in the evening on Wednesday.

"We are going to celebrate because it is the first time for France in the quarter-finals for a long time. We will wait for the name of our opponent. The important thing is to stay focused and to give everything", reacted the central Amandha Sylves, 20 years old and author of the last against on the third match point.

The victory of the French confirms their rise to power after a promising start to the competition, where they took third place in their group behind the untouchables Serbia and Russia.

By qualifying for the eighth against the Croats, the players of Emile Rousseaux had already done better than at Euro-2019, completed in the pools.

After beating Bosnia-Herzegovina, Azerbaijan and Belgium in the group stage, the French followed with a fourth consecutive success in this Euro, obtained in the mind against the Croats of Samanta Fabris (26 points).

At first too shy, the French missed their start to the match, yielding the first set 25-16.

More incisive and more present in reception then, they removed the second set 25-21 thanks in particular to two blocks on the last points.

In a balanced third set, the French ended up breaking down and offering the Croats four set points.

On a last block-out of Héléna Cazaute, the Blue let slip the third set 25-22.

But after a neck-and-neck final, the French snatched the fourth set 25-22 to afford a tie-break.

Thanks in particular to the six points of Amélie Rotar, 20 years old and only one professional season on the clock, the Bleues were in the lead in this tie-break, before winning on their third match point thanks to a cons d 'Amandha Sylves (15-12).

By validating its presence in the quarterfinals, the French women's team has also laid new ground for the Paris Olympics in 2024, after having remotely followed the exploits of other French team sports teams in Tokyo.

© 2021 AFP