VaLePa is in a tight spot in the volleyball Champions League qualification. The team needs at least a 3-1 win in Lisbon in a week to get to the extra round to play for the next place.
Anu Karttunen,
Manu Myllyaho
Vammala Volleyball suffered a 1–3 (21–25, 25–21, 22–25, 17–25) loss to Benfica in the first leg of the third qualifying round of the Volleyball Champions League. The second leg will be played next Wednesday in Lisbon, Portugal.
The home team started the sets strong, but lost their lead at the end of the set. It upset the team’s chipper Urpo Sivulaa.
– We had the keys to win this game. In each batch, we were well involved and it worked, but then we got stuck and at some point it went haywire, Sivula stated.
Sivula himself has been on the sidelines lately due to injury, but now he got back into action. He admitted that, like others, he had fallen into overdoing it.
– You should be calm, take it a little more calmly and let those who are in charge hit more.
Also last year, VaLePa and Benfica met in the third qualifying round of the Champions League. At that time, Benfica won their home match 3–0 and the away match 3–1 and advanced to the group stage.
Head coach of VaLePa Janne Kangaskokko reminded that nothing is lost yet.
– Now I’m saddened by my own attacking play. We made too many mistakes when the guy didn’t make them. There was a lot left in the pipeline and things to improve for next week, Kangaskokko said.
– Let’s improve the follow-up ball play and take our own good pass to the away hall. Against Aich/Dob (second round opponent) we improved the tackle defense for the second game. That is the purpose even now.
After the match, there was at least one satisfied Finnish player on the field, because the chipper Aaro Nikula got on the field to decide, among other things, the first set for the Portuguese. A couple of years ago, Nikula was in VaLePa’s ranks winning the Finnish championship, but now he doesn’t remember that time.
– Really good feelings, even though nothing has been won yet. Two sets are needed to get to the next round, and that’s the goal, Nikula said.
Nikula finished the match with 3 points. 17 of Benfica’s points were scored by a brass player Oliveira and a chipper Hugo Gaspar 14 points. VaLePa’s best scorer was Sakari Mäkinen With 19 points, Urpo Sivula scored 17 and Karli Allik 17 points.
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