Finland edge Austria to punch #EuroVolleyU19W ticket
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Finland emerged victorious from the #EuroVolleyU19W 3rd Round qualifier that ran from Friday until Sunday at Verde Sports Complex in Podgorica, Montenegro. Austria finished second, followed by France and Montenegro in third and fourth place, respectively.
On Friday, as the tournament began, France beat Finland 3-2 (18-25, 25-19, 25-19, 16-25, 16-14) with Clara Bal scoring 16 times for France, as Neea-Maria Joki registered as many as 26 for the Finns. Later in the evening, Austria defeated the home side of Montenegro 3-1 (14-25, 25-22, 25-21, 25-21). Larisa Micic scored 14 points for the winning team, as Lara Jovovic piled up 15 points for Montenegro.
On Saturday, Austria registered their second straight victory as they beat France 3-1 (20-25, 25-23, 25-21, 25-22). Valentina Mogg was the top scorer for Team Austria with 17 points, as Nawelle Chouikh-Barbez recorded the same tally for France in their losing effort. Finland routed Montenegro 3-0 (25-15, 25-17, 25-15) with Miia-Maria Mäkikyrö and Neea-Maria Joki scoring 10 points apiece, as Natalija Vlaovic managed to score eight times for Montenegro.
Austria could afford to lose 2-3 to Finland and yet they would qualify for the final stage of #EuroVolleyU19W. However, on Sunday Finland celebrated a 3-1 (25-20, 23-25, 25-21, 25-15) victory to secure top spot in Pool K and their journey to Skopje – where the Final Round of the European Championship will be taking place later this summer. Joki was highly instrumental to the victory as she scored as many as 25 points, while Valentina Mogg piled up 15 for Austria.
“It is really hard to find the words to describe our feelings right now. It was an incredibly great performance from the team. The loss against France already seemed to have diminished our chances. We played a good opening set, with Austria playing a little differently than we expected. In the second, Austria defended really well and we struggled in attack. We did lead by many points in the third set but the opponent still managed to come back into the game. Moona Tarkiainen saved us. The fourth set was quite a battle of spirits, as the winner would have advanced to the Final Round. My assistant coach Ari-Matti Joki had a great idea to take a two-minute breather during the set break. Neea-Maria Joki was great in the set and Miia-Maria Mäkikyrö improved tremendously in her attacking game – and we eventually won. We made history. I am so proud of this team,” said Nikolas Buser, head coach of Finland.
“We were very, very close to qualifying for the European Championship. We missed five points only, but after all, Finland was really the better side today. Neea-Maria Joki scored 25 points, and no player had achieved this feat here. They simply outdid us in attack. Nevertheless, my players have made great progress over the past two years. We are now among the top 14 nations in Europe! That is quite a sensation. The journey continues with the U21. Later this month, we play the European Championships in Italy and we are already among the top 8 in this other age group! So we have achieved quite some success and we can be proud of that,” said Roland Schwab, head coach of Austria.
In the last match contested on Sunday, France defeated Montenegro 3-0 (25-18, 25-20, 25-14) to finish third in the pool, with Clara Bal scoring 12 points.