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Following their victory on Friday, France delivered another straight-set performance, this time competing against Azerbaijan. The victory put the team in good spirits ahead of their final match with Spain which might be a decisive element of rivalry in Pool A. Azerbaijan will be facing Romania in a bid to finish the competition with a win.

France established point advantage at the start of first set, expanding it patiently until the team secured opening part 25-14. Azerbaijan responded taking an early lead in the second set, but France managed to level up and go ahead themselves. The hosts performed well at the service line, challenging Azerbaijan’s passing players. The last set proved more challenging as Azerbaijan kept the score closer. Emilie Respaut’s entry toward the end of the set allowed France to put more pressure from the service line, securing the result at 3-0.

• Lucille Gicquel once the top scorer for France with 15 points, but Helena Cazaute trails behind with 14 points.

• Anastasiia Baidiuk scored 8 points for Azerbaijan.

• France dominated in serve, scoring 11 aces, including 3 points each by Amandha Marine Sylves and Emilie Respaut.

• The hosts have also scored more points in block, with 9 points comparing to 3 on Azerbaijan’s side.

Vugar Aliyev, coach of Azerbaijan: “I want to congratulate the French team, because they played very good today. I am not happy with our game, we made too many mistakes. Tomorrow we will try to do much better, because we have nothing to lose.”

Manon Moreels, outside spiker of France: “I had a lot of adrenaline going into the game, I really wanted to play and show what I could do. We entered the game very well, I gained confidence and tried to do everything to make myself useful, bring my strengths. In the end, it's a nice victory. We all fought hard on every ball, and it’s becoming one of our strengths and our trademark. We had a lot of rallies, it was crucial to win them for the morale and the progress of the game. The defeat of Spain motivates us even more, if we win 3-0 or 3-1, we can participate in the Final Four, which is our goal. We will try to continue our momentum on Sunday."

Felix André, assistant coach of France: “It is the ideal scenario, because we give ourselves the right to play for the Final Four tomorrow! We had a good quality of service, we knew that the reception was one of the weak points of Azerbaijan, that allowed us to put our block-defense behind. We were aggressive in spiking, we could rely on a lot of good defenses to counter-attack. The passing also held well as it should, we always knew how to keep the level. It is sure that the return of Lucille Gicquel gives us the offensive power, we also have solutions on the bench. We could put girls on the court who had not played yesterday, without that unbalancing the team.”