The Yellow Tigers secured their third victory in the Volleyball Nations League. In Ankara, Belgium defeated France after a thrilling five-set battle. After a strong start by the Belgians, the French women fought their way back into the match, but in the decisive fifth set, the Tigers kept their composure. The set scores were 25-17, 20-25, 21-25, 25-18 and 15-8.

Belgium started the match in excellent fashion. Through Lemmens' serving and a solid Belgian block, the Tigers immediately raced to a 5-1 lead. French head coach Cesar was quickly forced to use his second timeout when Belgium extended the lead to 8-2. The Belgians dominated at the net and in defence, while libero Debouck stood out several times with impressive defensive plays. France fought back into the set and reduced a seven-point deficit to 15-12, but Belgium maintained control. Martin and Fransen were particularly impressive at the net. Through 19-14 and 22-16, the Tigers cruised towards a convincing 25-17 set win.

Both teams remained unchanged in the second set. France took the lead for the first time at 4-6 and gradually gained more control of the game. The French side extended their advantage to 7-10, prompting Vansnick to call his first timeout. Belgium struggled to put the ball away and saw the deficit grow to 12-17. The Tigers kept fighting, however. Herbots found her rhythm more and more in attack and Belgium chipped away at the lead to close the gap to 19-21. The comeback ultimately came just too late. France closed out the set 20-25 to level the match.

The third set also turned into a battle for every point. France had more control over the Belgian attack and the Tigers made slightly too many errors. With Ndiaye serving, France opened up a 3-8 lead, forcing Vansnick to take a timeout. Belgium refused to give up and battled back to 7-9. With the introductions of Maes and Nagels, the Belgian coach tried to turn the tide, but France remained steady. A second Belgian timeout followed at 10-15. After that, the French side also made a few mistakes, allowing the Tigers to close the gap to 15-18. At 21-23, Belgium moved within striking distance once again, but after a French timeout, a net-cord ace ended Belgian hopes in the set. France claimed the set 21-25 and moved ahead in the match.

With their backs against the wall, the Tigers responded brilliantly in the fourth set. Belgium immediately took a 3-0 lead and continued to build on it thanks to an inspired Britt Fransen. The French attackers had no answer to her attacking power and strong blocking. Belgium surged to a 7-1 advantage, forcing the French coach to use his second timeout early once again. The gap continued to grow at 9-1. France refused to surrender and cut an eight-point deficit down to four points at 14-10, but Belgium remained in control. Through 18-11, 21-15 and 23-16, the Tigers secured the set 25-18 and forced a decisive fifth set.

The Belgians started the fifth set strongly as well. An early 2-0 lead was already enough for the French coach to call a timeout. Belgium maintained control and at 8-5, France used its second timeout. The Tigers were determined not to let their lead slip away. Through 10-6, Belgium extended the score to 14-7. France saved one match point, but Herbots eventually finished it off. The captain scored the final point of the match to seal an impressive 3-2 victory for Belgium.

With this third victory, the Yellow Tigers have taken another important step towards securing their place in the Volleyball Nations League.

Besides the victory, there was another special Belgian achievement to celebrate. During the match against France, Britt Herbots became the joint all-time leading scorer in Volleyball Nations League history. With 1,328 points in 70 VNL matches, the Yellow Tigers captain now shares the top spot on the historical scoring list. An impressive milestone for a player who has been the face of Belgian women’s volleyball for many years.

Britt Herbots:

"We showed once again that mental resilience is one of the strengths of this team. Still, we need to make sure that we reach our level from the start of the match. Sometimes we still make too many mistakes in simple situations that we practise often in training and should normally execute much better. That creates frustration and makes it more difficult for everyone to get into the game. As the match went on, we became stronger in blocking and defence. Britt Fransen, for example, played an outstanding match at the net. Those are very positive signs. We may not be the most physical team, so we need to rely on organisation, fighting spirit and discipline. When we did that better, you could see the volleyball we want to play and the style that suits this group. This victory means a lot to us. Playing in the Volleyball Nations League is a huge opportunity. We face the best teams in the world and learn from every match. That is why every win feels special. Playing against France is always special and it is obviously even nicer to finish with a victory."

Kris Vansnick:

"We learned an incredible amount this week. Of course, the victory against France stands out, but the match against Brazil also gave us a lot of confidence. In the end, victories are what count in this competition and that is why I am very happy that today we found the energy and character needed to get this match over the finish line. I thought we showed strong moments both technically and mentally throughout the week. These were two tough weeks with many intense matches, including several five-set battles. We gathered a lot of information that will help us heading into the next VNL week and also towards the European Championship. We now have a week to recover and continue working. For Hong Kong, there will certainly be a few additional areas of focus. We will face some great challenges there as well. The most important thing is that we continue developing our team. I see the younger players making progress, both in matches and in training. If we can continue along that path, we can look ahead to next week with confidence."