* not listed on the Esku Pilota player pages at this time.
Groupe A
Peio Larralde-Bixintxo Bilbao; Agusti Waltary-Peio Guichandut; Mathieu Ospital-Baptiste Ducassou; Julien Etchegaray-Vincent Lazcano; Alexis Inchauspe-Anton Amulet; Philippe Bielle-Ximun Lambert
Groupe B:
Laurent.Lambert-Mickael Palomes; Vincent Elgart-Pascal de Ezcurra; Mattin Olcomendy*-Jean-Philippe Bennesse, Antton Monce-Cedric Lucu
Source for all match articles, unless otherwise specifically stated, is pilota-ttiki.com. Thus far, most Pilota Ttiki match articles are incorporated into the Pelotelive.free.fr match pages. I will link to them, for ease of access when they are.
Week 1: March 3-4, 2017 ; Week 2: March 12-13
Week 3: March 18-19
March 18, 2017
Garindein (1)(2)
Preview article for both matches
A7: Bielle-X. Lambert defeated Waltary-Guichandut 40-20
Match Statistics (scoring, equalities, decade linescores--spreadsheet format) (Source: Esku Pilota)
B1: L. Lambert-Palomes defeated Monce-Lucu 40-31
Match statistics (scoring, equalities, decade linescores--spreadsheet format) (Source: Esku Pilota)
Match article for both matches
Pilota-Ttiki articles had mentioned on more than one occasion that Bielle-Lambert could become a force in this tournament. They played well in a loss to Ospital-Ducassou last week and dominated W-G in this match. They led 20-9 at mid-match, and slowly increased their lead. At 34-20 they shut out W-G for the rest of the match to seal the win with a flourish. The match scoring statistics reveal that Bielle (+12 -3) and X. Lambert (+9 -2) played an excellent match. Guichandut (+5 -12) had a poor day which, according to Philippe Bielle was the culmination of a well planned and executed strategy to keep Guichandut in an area that would be difficult. It will be interesting to see if other teams attempt to execute the same strategy.
In the first Groupe B match of the competition, L-P dominated early, scoring the 1st 12 points of the match, but then M-L fought back to get within 3 points in the 6th decade. It is possible that the energy they expended getting back into the match spent them. They were outscored 10-4 to end the match. L. Lambert (+17 -6) had a very good match, Lucu (+4 -13) a forgettable one.
March 19, 2017
Amendaritz (1)(2)
Preview article for both matches
A8: Larralde-Bilbao defeated Etchegaray-Lazcano 40-24
Condensed linescore (winners always listed 1st--source Bixinto Bilbao Youtube site).
3-0; 3-1; 10-1; 10-3; 16-3; 16-4; 19-4; 19-9; 20-9; 20-15; 25-15; 25-16; 27-16; 27-17; 28-17; 28-18; 30-18; 30-19; 31-19; 31-20; 32-20; 32-21; 36-21; 36-24; 40-24
B2: Elgart-de Ezcurra defeated Olcomendy-Benesse 40-18
Selected linescore:
20-10; 40-18
Match article for both matches along with a link to full match video for the L-B v E-L match..
L-B v E-L full match video can also be accessed directly via Bixintxo Bilbao's Youtube site. The match video is a condensed full match video, with only the points. It runs about 1/2 hour.
L-B broke out to a huge lead and the game seemed over and done with at the half way point. Larralde's excellent serve and precise shot making, as well as Bilbao's mobility (he seemed to be all over the court) built that lead. But then, seemingly out of nowhere, E-E had a 10-1 run to put them back in contention. L-B responded with a 10-3 run of their own, and finished with a 9-4 run to win with ease. The win guarantees L-B a semi-final seed.
In the B Groupe Match, E-E were twice as good as their opponents in each half of the match.
Full A table at the end of play March 19
Full B table at the end of play March 19
For cumulative records of Main Nue elite professionals see the "Cumulative records of EP players" on the recurring results page on the right side of the blog.
