Slovenia, France secure men's VNL semifinal berths

RIMINI: Slovenia and France collected respective victories here on Wednesday to join Brazil and Poland in the men's Volleyball Nations League semifinals.

Slovenia swept Bulgaria 25-23, 25-16 and 25-18 to finish third in the 16-team round-robin preliminaries with 34 points from 12 wins and three losses. Toncek Stern led Slovenia with 13 points and Rok Mozic added 10.

France edged reigning world champions Poland 25-22, 21-25, 22-25, 25-20, and 15-11 to clinch the last Final Four berth on offer. Sharing an 11-3 win-loss record, France and Russia have both reaped 34 points, while France ranked fourth ahead of Russia thanks to a better set ratio.

Brazil, who had secured the Final Four ticket along with Poland before the last round of preliminaries, lost to Russia in straight sets. Brazil will play France in Saturday's semifinals while Poland will face Slovenia. Agencies

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