The French women’s volleyball team won against Sweden by 3 sets to 1 in the final of the 2023 Challenger Cup after a well-controlled match (25-21, 25-16, 22-25, 25 -15), Sunday in Laval.
In front of nearly 3,000 supporters who came to support them at Espace Mayenne in Laval, the French women thus won their second international title, a year after having won their first victory in the Golden League last year.
Thanks to this victory, Les Bleues also win the ticket for the 2024 Nations League promised to the winner, which they will play for the first time in their history.
A performance full of promise just over two weeks from the European Championship, from August 15, but above all a year from the 2024 Olympics in Paris. Great prospects for a group that did not qualify for the last Tokyo Games in 2021.
Concentrated and diligent, Emile Rousseaux’s players distinguished themselves with a smoothly conducted first set and won with a four-point lead over the Swedes (25-21).
Left on the same bases in the second round, the Bleues, carried by their captain Héléna Cazaute, stifled their opponents by chaining the decisive services and the winning blows, increasing their gap up to nine points (25-16).
In a third and final set this time much more contested, the French women managed their weak times a little less well, more at fault in attack and defense, allowing the Swedes to pick up the score by pocketing the set (25-22).
But the Bleues did not demobilize for all that, like Lucille Gicquel, decisive on the match point, to make the difference and win brilliantly in four sets (25-15).
Throughout the tournament, the French women’s team made diligent and attractive copies, like their first success against Vietnam on Thursday (3-0), but above all their big victory in the semi-finals in front of the Ukraine on the same score on Saturday (3-0).