Main Nue: FFPB CDC Elite Pro par Equipe--Week 4--March 25, 27 2017

The Main Nue Elite Pro par Equipe (pairs) Championnat de France A and B competition is sponsored by the  Federation Francaise de Pelote Basque (FFPB). The competition began on March 3, 2017 and ends on May 7, 2017. You can follow its progress here (link to "resultats" from the FFPB home  page).  Pelotelive.free.fr also provides A and B coverage. The tournaments have a "poule" phase, a single round robin, followed by a playoff system which is so byzantine that I will make no attempt to explain it because I can't. It is the most complex playoff system I have seen in my short time following these fascinating BP tournaments. Go to the FFPB site listed above and read P. 3 of the "resultats" booklet. See how clear it is to you. For now, we will just follow along and deal with the playoff system when we get to it.

*  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

Week 4: March 25, 27, 2017

March 25, 2017

Villefranque (1)(2)(3)

Preview article for both matches

A9: Ospital-Ducassou defeated Waltary-Guichandut 40-38

Match article for both matches

Match Statistics (scoring, equalities, decade linescores--spreadsheet format) (Source: Esku Pilota)

Selected linescore (including equalities and decade scores from the match statistics, along with selected scores from the match article) (winners always listed 1st)

0-5; 2-8; 5-10; 7-13; 10-16; 13-17; 19-21; 20-21; 20-23; 23-23; 26-24; 26-25; 29-26; 29-27; 29-29; 31-29; 34-34; 35-35; 36-36; 37-37; 40-38

B3: L. Lambert-Palomes defeated Olcomendy-Benesse 40-38

Match article for both matches

Match statistics (scoring, equalities, decade linescores--spreadsheet format) (Source: Esku Pilota)

Selected linescore (including equalities and decade scores from the match statistics, along with selected scores from the match article)  (winners always listed 1st)

1-1; 2-2; 4-6; 7-7; 7-13; 7-16; 11-19; 17-23; 22-28; 23-30; 27-30; 28-32; 31-35; 34-36; 34-38; 38-38; 40-38

Both matches were extremely close and hard fought. In the Groupe A match, Ducassou got caught up in the intensity of it all after what he thought was an incorrect call on the point beginning 29-26 O-D. He apologized for his reaction later. As for the match, the statistics show 6 equalities, the last at 37. O-D were behind for much of the first half. In the end, with a little help from "une petite incomprehension avec Waltary" (according to Guichandut) they figured out a way to win. Waltary was +20-10. Ospital was +15 -5. The win guaranteed O-D a place in the Semi-finals of the A Groupe. It was Ducassou's 8th consecutive victory overall in 2017.

In the Groupe B match L-P were favorites but they had to fight hard for their victory. An early 9 point run by O-B gave them a 16-7 lead. It took L-P the entire match to catch up. Down 34-38 they were still in dire straits. But from there, with the aid of 2 clutch winners by Lambert along with a  mis-communication between O-B at 38-38, L-P ended the match with a 6-0 run. Laurent Lambert's 10 service aces and +15 -4 were crucial to the victory.

March 27, 2017

Le Garat, Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port  (1!)(2)

Preview article for both matches

A10: Bielle-X. Lambert defeated Inchauspe-Amulet 40-22

Match statitstics: (scoring, equalities, decade linescores--spreadsheet format) (Source: Esku Pilota)

Selected linescore Selected linescore (including equalities and decade scores from the match statistics, along with "remarkable points" from Le Garat "Lundi" page--GL information will be over written next week so I have copied it out):)

6-2; 8-2: 10-4; 11-9; 13-13; 15-13; 17-13; 24-16; 28-17; 31-19; 31-20; 32-20; 38-22

B4: Monce-Lucu defeated Elgart-de Ezcurra 40-36

Selected linescore (remarkable points--winners always listed 1st) (Source Le Garat "Lundi" page)

7-13, 9-16; 11-21; 24-32; 28-34; 31-34; 33-35; 40-36

1 equality: 35-35

Service aces: Monce 12, Elgart 9
Filet points: M-L 2; E-E 5
Time of the match: 1 hour 21 minutes

Lundi page brief commentary:

La course en tête de Elgart and Ezcurra s'est terminée avant la ligne d'arrivée.
Pugnaces et puissants, Monce-Ondars and Lucu ont arraché leur victoire après l'égalité à 35 partout.
Belle partie, aucun des quatre Joueurs n'a démérité !.

Google Translate English

The race at the head of Elgart and Ezcurra ended before the finish line.
Pugnacious and powerful, Monce-Ondars and Lucu snatched their victory after the tie at 35.
Nice part, none of the four Players has been unworthy !.

Match article for both matches

In the Groupe A match B-L continued their excellent play with an easy victory over I-A, though not as easy as the final score indicated. According to Philippe Bielle

...“la partie ne reflète pas vraiment le score On a dû batailler tout le long de la partie. Elle a duré pas loin d’une heure vingt”.

Google Translate English

"...the game does not really reflect the score, We had to fight all the way through the game. It lasted not far from an hour and twenty. "

Bielle's +12 -1 played a major role. Amulet had a bad day at the office (+8 -16). The win leaves  B-L with an outside chance at a Semi-final spot.

In the Groupe B match M-L trailed for the entire match before equalizing at 35 and then winning 5 of the last 6 points.

Full A table at the end of play March 27

Full B table at the end of play March 27

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.