Akaa advanced for the first time to the final match series of the Men’s Volleyball Championship when it defeated Raisio Loimu in the decisive fifth semi-final 3–0. The other final team will make it on Saturday.
For the first time in its history, Akaa-Volley advanced to the finals of the Men’s Volleyball Championship League when it defeated Raisio Loimu in the decisive fifth semi-final match 25–22, 25–23, 25–16.
Akaa’s most effective player had scored 12 points Greg Petty.
The previous matches, with the exception of one, had stretched to five sets, but Friday’s match was decided directly in three. The players are not the head coach of Akaa-Volley Olli Kunnarin according to which it was necessary to separately incite a decisive struggle.
– We tried to make sure that the charging does not go over. Today was a good focus from the start. Two sets were tight and the third came a bit more clearly, Kunnari said.
According to Kunnar, the team’s good and heavy passing were the decisive factors in Friday’s match.
– We broke down the opponent’s reception sufficiently and their midfield play was less. We got a good wing defense done there.
Akaa won the match series with 3–2 despite the initial difficulties. Raisio started the match series strongly and already led it with victories 2–0. However, Akaa, who played with his back against the wall, won three matches in a row and reached the final for the first time.
Having seen a lot of tough match series in his international playing career, Kunnari highly valued the tight semi-final series against Raisio.
– There were great games and atmosphere. This has been a heated series. It’s great that there is something like that in Finland too, said Kunnari, who is piloting Akaata in his second season.
Akaa-Volley, who won silver in the Finnish Cup this season, has the best finish in the Champions League, the previous season’s bronze. Raisio was aiming for its first place in the finals since 2001, when it also celebrated the SM gold.
The second team of the final match series will survive tomorrow, when VaLePa and Savo Volley, the finalists of the previous two seasons, meet in the decisive fifth match.
– That has also been a tight series. The fifth game will decide who will meet. Then we start watching videos of the opponent. We’ll see tomorrow, Kunnari said.
VaLePa has won seven Finnish championships, but if Savo Volley advanced to the finals, it would ensure that the men’s Championship League would have a completely new Finnish champion.
Toni Flink interviewed Olli Kunnar.