The Finnish women’s national volleyball team managed a forced victory over Iceland in the EC qualifying group, 3–0 (25–19, 25–16, 25–13) in Salohalli. Finland came second in the group because Montenegro lost to the Czech Republic.
19:32•Updated 19:51
The victory was the second in three matches for Finnish volleyball women in the European Championship qualifiers. Iceland has lost all three matches in the EC qualifiers with set points of 0-9. It had scored an average of 12 points per set before the Finland match.
Emmi Jalonen had to pass rather coldly, when the first pass Kaisa Alango there is a small injury below. Jalonen made bold decisions against Iceland and succeeded well. Especially the radar pair Jalonen-Emmi Riikilä worked great from memory.
– A confusing game maybe, but the win (3–0) was the most important thing. It was a bit tense at first, but the game started to flow well. We succeeded in many ways today, comments Jalonen.
Finland didn’t play a top match, but still the home team had a solid grip on the fight the whole time. Finland gave the opponent too many “easy” points in one set, and in the second set Iceland got no less than seven save points. On the other hand, the home team forged more ace serves than usual.
– We weren’t quite at our level, and this was a difficult game in different ways. There were some scuffles on the field, but luckily we won 3–0, that was the most important thing, it summed up the match Yasmine Madsen.
Kokkonen on display whenever necessary
Heavy-handed Suvi Kokkonen scored important points for Finland, especially in the first two sets. In the opening set, Kokkonen’s serve was poison for the opponent. Kokkonen powerfully scored the deciding points of the set, as Finland progressed from a 21–17 lead to a 25–19 set win.
Also in the second set, Kokkonen did almost what he wanted on the field. Iceland was already suffering with save points to 14–18, but at that point Kokkonen took Finland on his back, leading the home team to a clear set win 25–16.
In the third set, Iceland led 5–4 at the beginning, but Finland found a red thread and took an 11–6 lead in an instant and eventually won the set and the match 25–13. Coaching rotated players in this round.
Finland’s most powerful women: Suvi Kokkonen 18/+12, Emmi Riikilä 11/+8, Roosa Laakkonen 4/+3, Daniela Öhman 10/+4
Finland will face Iceland in a week from now on September 3 on the away field and came back in second place in the European Championship qualifying group, when the sovereign top team Czech Republic beat Montenegro 3–0 today (25-14, 25-17, 25–21) Series standings here. The best two of the group advance to the European Championships.
Manu Myllyaho interviewed Finnish players.