KRISTEL SATUMBAGA

France completed a four-game sweep of the Volleyball Nations League Men’s Leg with a 25-16, 25-19, 19-25, 25-21 victory over Germany Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The French turned to Tokyo Games Most Valuable Player Earvin Ngapeth, who pumped in 18 points on 16 kills and two blocks.

France hiked its win-loss tally to 7-1 for 21 points to currently sit atop the leaderboard in the 16-nation tournament.

Their earlier wins this week came at the expense of China, Netherlands and Japan.

Despite having trouble with their service game that saw them collapse in the third set, the French bounced back mightily in the fourth with Ngapeth orchestrating their offense.

They took a 17-14 lead and never gave the Germans the opportunity to fight back.

Stephen Boyer, who is a member of the Tokyo Olympics champion team, also provided the firepower for the French by unloading 14 kills for 16 points, even as Yacine Louati, also a Tokyo Olympian, backed up with 13 points.

The French dominated the Germans on all fronts, including in attacks, 48-32; blocks, 10-7; and service aces, 8-4, but they gave up 38 points on errors particularly at the service line.

Linus Weber was the lone double-digit scorer for Germany with 16 points as Lukas Maase and Christian Fromm added eight and six points.

Germany fell to 3-5 for seven points, having lost all their matches this week including against Italy, China and Netherlands.

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