Volleyball | Finland defeated Austria in the men’s EC volleyball qualifiers

Tampere

Finland took a long step towards a ninth consecutive European Men’s Volleyball finals on Wednesday when by Joel Banks coached home team defeated Austria 3–1 (25–21, 23–25, 25–16, 25–17) in Tampere.

The chipper who excelled in the opening match of the qualifiers in Latvia Aaro Nikula was quiet for two sets, but scored as many as nine points in the third set and ended up with 18 points. He hit the ball on the chipper with a hard 68 percent efficiency.

“The victory in the opening set perhaps came too easily. But the second set was just one set. During the break, we talked about forgetting about it and going back to the normal game,” said Nikula.

Finland made ten attacking mistakes, Austria’s corresponding figure was 24.

“If there is no good place to hit the ball, then we give the ball to a friend and trust our own defense”, Nikula summed up the game philosophy.

Among the other players, especially the midfielder who played in Oulu’s Etta last season and will move to Joensuu’s Hurmos next season Nuitti Niinivaara was excellent in his 12th match for the A national team. He scored 11 points, and the power balance was +10, which was the second best after Nikula (+14).

“This was definitely the coolest game of the national team career. I have done the work, and the development is visible”, Niinivaara emphasized.

Could clubs other than Hurmos be interested in a game like that?

“There is no foreign clause in the agreement”, Niinivaara stated.

Finland played almost flawlessly in the beginning, but in the second set it made many more of its own mistakes than in the opening set. In the third period, the success rate of the team’s attacks was a whopping 71.

The fourth set was not as good as the third, but Finland played well enough to win the set and the match.

About general players Antti Ronkainen made 12 and Sakari Mäkinen 10 points.

Finland will face Austria next Sunday and Latvia next Wednesday in Turku in the qualifiers. The group winner advances to the European Championships held in four countries next year.