Venislav Antov played a very strong match and led Tourcoing to a home victory over Nice with a score of 3:2 (21:25, 20:25, 25:18, 25:21, 15:12) in the third round of the French championship. In front of 1212 spectators at the "Pierre Dumortier" hall, the hosts achieved the comeback after 2 hours and 17 minutes of play.
The Bulgarian opposite hitter was a starter in all five sets and became the top scorer in the match with 29 points - 26 from attack, two aces, and one block. Antov converted 26 out of 42 attack attempts for a 62% success rate, with six errors and not a single blocked hit. Tourcoing lost its lead in the first two sets. The hosts led 16:14 in the first and 16:15 in the second, but Nice was more convincing in the final rallies and took a 2:0 lead.
Antov and his teammates responded with a convincingly won third set. In the fourth, they again found themselves in a difficult position at 4:8, but turned it around to 16:14 and 21:17. The Bulgarian scored nine points in this set and helped his team take the match to a tie-break.
In the decisive set, Antov was almost flawless - six successful attacks from seven attempts, or an 86% success rate, with no errors. Tourcoing took a 10:6 lead, maintained its advantage at 12:9, and closed out the match with a 15:12 score.
Robert Andringa added 15 points for the winners, and Rafael Pascal contributed nine, including three blocks. For Nice, Kevin Koberin finished with 24 points, and Fausto Diaz with 22, five of which were from serves.
After the success, Tourcoing has two wins, one loss, and six points. Their next match is an away game against Saint-Nazaire on October 30.