The regular season of the women’s volleyball championship league was completed on Wednesday.
Kuopio’s Puijo Wolley is the winner of the regular season and will qualify for the playoffs of the Women’s Volleyball Championship League. The people of Kuopio took first place in the series with a point difference to Kuusamo. The regular season win is the first in Puijo Wolley’s history.
In Wednesday’s exciting final round, Puijo Wolley defeated Orivesi Ponnistus 3–2 and Kuusamo softened Rovaniemi’s Arctic Volley 3–1 after recovering from the opening set loss.
LiigaPloki and LP-Vampula secured a place in the quarterfinals with their victories in the final round.
LiigaPloki–LP Kangasala 3–0 (26–24, 25–20, 25–23)
Kuusamo–Arctic Volley 3 to 1 (21–25, 25–17, 25–21, 25–23)
LP Viesti–LP-Vampula 1–3 (13–25, 25–20, 18–25, 20–25)
Hämeenlinna–JymyVolley 3 to 1 (25–20, 25–21, 24–26, 26–24)
Puijo Wolley–OrPo 3–2 (19–25, 25–18, 27–25, 21–25, 15–8)
The quarter-finals will start on March 15 at the home courts of the better ranked teams. Advances to the semi-finals with three wins.
The match series between Puijo Wolley and LP Vampula and Kuusamo and LiigaPlok will be played due to the long distances, so that first two matches are played at the home ground of the better placed, then two matches at home of the lower placed. If necessary, the decisive Fifth match is better played at the home of the one who finished in the regular season.
Arctic Volley and JymyVolley, ranked 9–10 in the championship league, play each other in pre-qualifications to avoid the league qualifiers. A place in the series is secured with three wins. The loser of this pair of matches will face the winner of series 1 in the actual league qualifiers.
You can see the final standings of the regular season of the Women’s Championship League at this link.
The match pairs of the semifinals (ranking in the regular season in parentheses):
Puijo Wolley (1) – LP-Vampula (8)
Kuusamo (2) – LiigaPloki (7)
LP Fabric (3) – LP Message (6)
Hämeenlinna (4) – Orivesi Ponnistus (5)
VaLePa won the men’s regular season
VaLePa secured first place in the regular season in the men’s Championship League in the last round of the regular season. On Wednesday, VaLePa defeated their quarter-final opponent TuTo Volley away 3–0.
– With this information, we play all the playoffs in our hometown Sastamala. There is still one game left in the regular season, and the opponent has more input in it than we do, said VaLePa coach Janne Kangaskokko.
VaLePa’s opponent on Saturday, Kokkola Tiikerit, is now seventh in the league, after Hurrikaani-Loimaa lost and was one point behind.
In Turku, VaLePa played with its first team. Urpo Sivula made 17 and Jacob Ekman 10 points. TuTo’s most efficient player had 13 points William Groffier.
TuTo ends the regular season by facing the away team Hurrikaani-Loimai on Saturday. If Tiikerit loses, Hurikaani will move up and thus face Akaa-Volley in the quarterfinals.
Men’s Championship League Standings before Friday and Saturday’s final round from this link.
TuTo Volley–VaLePa 0 to 3 (20–25, 13–25, 18–25)
Vantaa Ducks–Hurrikana-Loimaa 3 to 1 (25–22, 18–25, 25–22, 25–23)
Karelian Hurmos–Akaa Volley 1–3 (21–25, 22–25, 25–21, 23–25)