In Monday night’s thriller, Spain defeated Finland’s women’s volleyball team with a 3–1 victory. A historic place in the European Championship play-offs now requires a super surprise, which could, however, lead to a surprising season.
Finland’s first group culminates in the European volleyball championships on Wednesday against the Netherlands. The broadcast starts at 16:45 on TV2 and Areena.
Finland’s women’s volleyball dreams suffered a big blow on Monday evening in the opening group of the European Championships in Tallinn, when Spain defeated Finland 3–1 (25–17, 24–26, 26–24, 26–24). The loss was Finland’s third out of four matches.
Finland’s opening set was sticky and Spain marched with a brisk pass rush to win the set by eight points.
– In the beginning, we fell behind Spain’s speed. Their tempo is quite different from all the other teams, head coach Nicholas Buser analyze.
The blue and white shirts got into the game in the second period. Finnish chipper Yasmine Madsen kept Finland in the game by grabbing three handsome points in a row.
See Madsen’s style samples below.
Finland evened the sets by winning the second set 26–24. The third and fourth sets of the match were a steady struggle, where Spain managed to turn the tight situations to their advantage. With their win, Spain moved past Finland to the fourth place in Group D, which entitles them to access to the playoffs.
– It’s hard when the lollipop is within reach, but it is taken away, Buser describes the disappointment.
– In light of the statistics, the match was really even. The margins were really small, the game could have turned either way, Urheilu’s expert Riikka Lehtonen compliments Finland’s performance.
In theory, Finland can still make it to the quarterfinals against Florence, Italy, but the straw is very thin. Finland only has Wednesday’s match against Holland left. The Netherlands is fifth in the European ranking, Finland is in 22nd place.
Switch additional current to the field
Finland already played its third match in three days. According to the expert, Buser has given the players space in an unprecedented way and brought players from the substitute bench into the matches brilliantly.
– Finland seems to have width on the bench now, which is really positive, says Riikka Lehtonen.
Attacking improved as the match progressed, and the Finns used passari Kaisa Alangon created places more efficiently. Along with Alanko, Lehtonen ranks the birthday hero as Finland’s greatest success Emilia I’m translatingwho was able to calm Finland’s reception of passes.
Also injured his finger in the previous match Roosa Laakkonen lit up Finland’s game at the end of the match with his top saves. In the fourth set, he became a chipper Maid Korhonen also attacked effectively at times.
What is the pre-favorite bet on Wednesday?
Holland is the overwhelming favorite of the group in the preliminaries. However, Finland may have a surprising, albeit unlikely, opportunity to wedge itself from the first group to the next one.
If the Netherlands beat France in three or four sets on Tuesday, the result would guarantee the Netherlands victory in Group D. Then the orange shirts would have no stake against Finland at all.
– Finland has nothing to lose, the players will certainly give their all on the field. If Finland gets the hurlumhei-meining on, there may still be a small chance of a continuation, but it is unlikely, Lehtonen reflects.
Estonia is also still fighting for the next place, with two matches left. The group will be played until the end on Tuesday and Wednesday.