A 1:3 (25-21, 16-25, 25-20, 25-23) defeat to "Spacers" in Toulouse deprived Montpellier of the opportunity to take the lead in the Marmara SpikeLeague standings on Friday evening, at the opening of the 19th round. For Montpellier, the evening could have looked perfect during their visit to Toulouse, who had not yet recovered from the unexpected departure of their opposite hitter Julien Winkelmuller a week ago for Israel.
An eventual victory would have given Dimitrov and company the opportunity to take the lead in the standings, while Silvano Prandi's Chaumont rested.But Iliya Petkov's "Spacers" decided otherwise, demonstrating solid play, with outside hitter Tom Picard finishing with 20 points (17/31 attacks, 2 blocks, and 1 ace, 70% reception efficiency), supported by two young talents who embody the future of the team, Noah Duflo-Rossi (12 points) and Nathan Ferral, impressive on serve with six aces.Iliya Petkov finished with 9 points (1 ace).
On the other side, Montpellier made many errors: 21 on serve, 9 in attack, and 8 more in reception. Too many to hope for anything better than a loss in four sets. Only Argentinian captain Ezequiel Palacios, a bronze medalist from the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games, maintained his level with 18 points (14/30 attacks, 2 blocks, 2 aces, and 62% in reception).Dimitar Dimitrov was modest with his 8 points in three sets of play.

With this prestigious success against one of the favorites in the MSL, Toulouse rises to fifth place, just behind Tours (4th) and Tourcoing (3rd), who face each other this Saturday evening in the derby of the day.