French Cup: Nice Volley-Ball dominates against Fréjus

For this Round of 16 of the French Volleyball Cup, Nice Volley-Ball challenged the Var team from Fréjus. A match of great intensity between two teams from different divisions, logically won by the NVB in three straight sets.

For this first match of the French Cup 2026-2027 edition, Nice Volley-Ball, finalists of the last edition, traveled to neighboring Fréjus Var Volley. A derby that could have seemed imbalanced at first glance between Nice, members of League A, and Fréjus, which plays in League B. Yet the Var players, leaders of their championship, had nothing to be ashamed of. With only one defeat in four matches since the start of the season, Fréjus is leading the second division. Add to this a 2-2 tie in preparation in early October and here is a match full of promise.

Struggling on reception, Fréjus quickly lost a few points at the start of the match. The Eagles were leading without taking a big lead. Like Kévin Kobrine who made some unusual mistakes, Brice Donat’s players didn’t seem very focused. Opposite, Fréjus played at their level by showcasing the power of their spiker Julien Faganas. It took until the end of the set for the Nice players to accelerate and respect the logic thanks to a fine serving streak from their two attackers, Fausto Diaz and Kevin Kobrine: 25-21.

Nice Volley-Ball pulls away

In the second set, Fréjus was more focused and logically took the lead. Without worrying the Nice players, the match tightened as points went on. The Ukrainian reception-attacker of the NVB, Tymofii Poluian took the opportunity to stand out and keep his teammates in contention. The set was ultimately decided by Nice’s defense and blocks, which made the difference in the second part of the set. The Maralpins stayed clean to finish with another fine serving streak from Kevin Kobrine: 25-20.

Technically superior, the Maralpins came into the third set well. If Fréjus rotated to try to find solutions, Brice Donat, as is his habit, trusted his starting lineup which played a very large part of the match tonight. Only JJ Love and Colin Castelnau were really in the rotation in the final part of the match, joined at the end of the set by Mauro Gay and Sacha Kiciak. With a gap of between four and six points, the matter was quickly settled despite some inaccuracies due to the lack of reference points from the substitutes.

Nice Volley-Ball, author of a very serious match, qualified for the round of 16 (25-21/25-20/25-20) in just over 1.5 hours. An important point since the Eagles will play again in the championship this Friday where they will host Chaumont at 7:30 PM. As for the French Cup, the NVB is already setting a meeting for November 24.