Croatia against France in Sunday’s most unpredictable eighthfinal

Sunday is set to deliver more CEV EuroVolley 2021 excitement as four more quarterfinalists emerge from the day’s four eighthfinals in the women’s championship. After the Netherlands and Sweden celebrated as winners of the first two round-of-16 games on Saturday in Plovdiv, the Kolodruma hall in Europe’s oldest living city will host the match-ups between Turkey and Czechia and between Poland and Ukraine. Defending champions Serbia will entertain Hungary in the last fixture on Sunday’s programme. Before that, the Stark Arena in Belgrade will set the stage for the day’s most unpredictable clash, that between Croatia and France.

While there seem to be clear favourites in all three of the other eighthfinals on Sunday, whether Croatia or France will make it to the last eight of the tournament is quite an enigma. The two teams have only met once at the European Championships before and that was 14 years ago, when France registered a four-set victory over Croatia in the first stage of EuroVolley 2007. Croatia finished Pool C runners-up at home in Zadar, while France finished third in their Pool A, but in the very tough company of teams like Serbia, Russia and Belgium.

Enjoying the home court advantage in Zadar, Croatia cruised through the first four matches in their pool, dropping only a single set against Hungary along the way, before finishing off with their only defeat, at the hands of heavy favourites Italy.

Against France, the Croats will once again rely on their star opposite Samanta Fabris to spearhead the attack. The team’s top point-maker has tallied 71 putaways so far at EuroVolley 2021, while her teammate Bozana Butigan is the second best blocker of the tournament on an average of 0.94 kill blocks per set. Only Russia (51) and Italy (36) have hammered more points from the serving line than Croatia’s 31 aces so far. With nine each, Fabris and Laura Milos are among the best servers of the tournament.

In what was arguably the most competitive pool of the four, France took the third place on a 3-2 win-loss record. They managed to take a set away from the strong team of Russia in their opening game in Belgrade. In their closing Pool A match, the French delivered a solid upset of the high-level Belgian squad defeating the opponents in four sets and pushing them down from the second to the fourth place in the pool standings.

Opposite Lucille Gicquel was one of the ‘culprits’ for France’s success in their pool. She was the team’s best scorer on a total of 84 points, also leading in stuff blocks (12) and aces (9). Outside hitter Helena Cauzate has eight aces to her name so far. She is also the third best receiver of the tournament’s pool stage on 44% perfect receptions.

Another detail that might work in favour of France against Croatia is the fact that Emile Rousseaux's squad are already familiar with the competition court at Stark Arena.