Tourcoing, with Bulgarian international Venislav Antov, achieved its third victory of the season in the French championship, after defeating Saint-Nazaire 3:0 (25:18, 25:19, 25:23) as a guest in a match from the fourth round.
In front of 1450 spectators in the "Coubertin" hall, the guests demonstrated serious superiority from the serve, scoring 10 aces, and did not allow the hosts to win a set.
Antov started as a starter in all three sets, finishing with 7 points from attack. The Bulgarian opposite hitter scored 7 out of 16 attacks (44% success rate).
After his impressive performance against Nice, when he scored 29 points and was chosen as the most valuable player (MVP), this time Antov remained in the background in attack.
Six aces and 22 points for Ben Romdhane
The key figure for Tourcoing was Oussama Ben Romdhane. He finished with 22 points — 14 from attack, 6 aces, and 2 blocks. The outside hitter scored 14 out of 26 attacks, achieving a 54% success rate.
Setter Matias Giraudo also made a significant contribution, adding 3 aces and 2 blocks. Raphaël Pascal distinguished himself with 3 block points.
Tourcoing finished the match with a total of 29 points from attack, 10 aces, and 9 blocks.
After convincingly winning the first two sets with 25:18 and 25:19, the guests faced more serious resistance in the third, but managed to close out the match at 25:23.
Against Vladimir Garkov's former team
It is interesting that Saint-Nazaire was the team of Bulgarian international Vladimir Garkov last season.
The outside hitter moved to the French club from Levski in the summer of 2025 and recorded 301 points in the championship before continuing his career in the Italian Serie A2 with Gioia del Colle.
With the victory, Tourcoing increased its tally to three wins from four matches and continues to be among the leading teams at the start of the French championship.

photo:TLM/LNV