Finland makes a sweep over Belgium in Pool C of CEV Volleyball European Championship
A match between Finland and Belgium was played on September 12, Monday, in which Finland was coming into the match after losing to Italy as well as France earlier but it was able to put an end to its losing streak by making a clean sweep over Belgium. The
city of Innsbruck was playing host to the Pool C matches of the CEV Volleyball European Championship that is currently taking place in Austria.
Despite the fact that they lost the match, Belgium did not go down without putting up a commendable fight. The start of each set of the game saw both the teams on level ground but as the frames reached the final stages, Finland was able to control the courts
and fly off to a set win every time. Therefore, the score board showed the following final set scores in favour of the Finns: 25-21, 25-22 and 25-22.
The Finnish player, Mikko Oivanen, made the following comments at the press conference after his team had won the match: “It was our last chance, so there was no reason to conserve our energy. We knew what we had to do in this match and it worked out. Our
biggest accomplishment is that we played at our best in the most difficult situation.”
The captain of the Belgium team, Frank Depestele, shared his views by giving these statements: “We didn’t have enough power to play like yesterday. Finland was too good for us today.”
The start of the first set of the game saw the Finns and the Belgians both battling hard for a lead. As the game progressed, the Belgians started having trouble scoring points as the blocking of the Finns was highly efficient. This resulted in an increased
gap between the score as Finland was able to get the advantage and stretch it until they had bagged the first set of the game at 25-21.
The loss of the opening set sent a much needed wakeup call to the Belgian players and they tried to step up their game. However, the Finland side was playing with a lot of force and energy that led them to stay dominant most of the time. However, Belgium
was able to bring the score close at 23-22 but it was Finland that at last secured another set win at 25-22.
The two sets win got the Finland fans present in the stands into a great mood for cheers and the Finns were propelled into the third set by the enthusiasm and spirit of the crowd. On the other hand, Belgium was having a tough time in coping up and they finally
lost the set to Finland at 22-25.
The top scorer in the match was the Finland player Mikko Oivanen with a total of 12 points.
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