Enough Anglophone bias, let’s cover two new teams. Finland and (South) Korea clash in this Pool C matchup. The big storyline for this match is the Koreans coming in without star pin hitter Moon Sung-min. He sustained a knee injury in the Koreans’ two-fer with Japan. I don’t know how severe it is, but he didn’t even dress for either of the two matches with Finland. Having him gone is a pretty substantial blow to the Korean hopes, leaving Jeon Kwang-in and Park Chul-woo to carry the slack.
The teams traded points at the outset. Finland ran an effective middle attack to Matti Oivanen while Korea got their first few points thanks to Park Chul-woo and Jeon Kwang-in. Finland caught a break to score on serve first at 4-all, when a long hit by Kwak Seung-suk clearly, upon replay, hit setter Mikko Esko on the forearm, but it wasn’t called. The Koreans got the point back when Urpo Sivula hit wide on 6-all, but the Finns got the next two to edge ahead 8-7 at the technical.
Sideout after sideout it went a while longer. Both sides received serve beautifully, and it the first 2-point lead didn’t come until 11-9 (for Finland, on a right-side double block). Mikko Oivanen just missed an ace on his serve at 12-10 to potentially give the Finns a 3-point lead for the first time. At 13-12, the Koreans missed an opportunity, digging Sivula’s middle attack for the first time, but Park Chul-woo’s resultant hit was wide. Matti Oivanen followed with a service ace to make it 15-12, and the Koreans called time. The margin was the same at the second technical, 16-13.
Korea setter Han Sun-soo made a very good play on the 17-14 rally. It looked like the service reception was going to yield an overpass, but he got up just in time to lightly redirect the ball away from where the Finnish middle was lining up to devour it. Easy kill and sideout. The Koreans put a double block up in front of Antti Siltala on the next rally to all of a sudden draw back within a point. On 21-20, Korea rotated Park Chul-woo back to serve, and his serve brought out an overpass. It was a longer rally than overpasses usually are, but it ended with a back-row kill for the server to knot the set. The Finns took a timeout there, and then another when Korea took their first lead at 23-22 following a Finland error.
After the timeout, Jeon came up with a huge left-side kill off the double block and out — and was visibly very excited about that. That brought Korea to set point at 24-22. The Finns staved off their reception set point, prompting Korea to call time at 24-23. The timeout seemed to ice the server nicely, as the ball went straight into the net to give set 1 to the Koreans.
There were a scant 2 digs aside in that first set. There were many many many terminating swings. Korea had 19 kills to 13 for the Finns, in advance of a set that was much closer than that spread would indicate (indeed, Finland led much of the way).
The Finns scored on serve first in set 2, when Korean libero Lee Kang-joo was called for a lift on an overhand set. This only gave them the 1-point lead, though, it did not give them a sideout advantage. Korea got their sideout on the next ball when Park Chul-woo’s wide hit was ruled to be off the block. Replays showed the call to be correct, but for an atypical reason — it hit the side of the blocker’s head, not his arm or hands at any point. The Koreans got the point on serve back at 5-all with Park Sang-ha, and the match that had been pretty dead even throughout most of set 1 was so again in set 2. It was 8-7 Korea at the first technical.
The deadlock was broken on 9-all, as Matti Oivanen went back to serve for the Finns. Korea’s reception was easily their worst of the night, leaving them to return only a meek free ball, and Korea turned that into an easy kill. Oivanen’s next serve rebounded off the back row and out for an ace. That prompted Korea’s timeout, but the rally after the timeout still went the way of the Finns, albeit a much longer one. They brought in a defence substitution at that point, with Bu Yong-chan entering for Kwak, but Oivanen snuck another service ace in before the Koreans could finally sideout. The 5-point deficit the Koreans found themselves in held up to the second technical at 16-11 Finland.
At 19-14, Finland made an interesting sub, with Jukka Lehtonen coming in for Esko. I guess you’d call it a blocking sub, as Lehtonen is listed at MB, but he’s also a touch shorter than Esko. I guess it was as much or more about technique than size. Esko subbed back in a few points later, so maybe it was just giving him a breather. Finland increased their advantage to seven for the first time at 21-14, and reached set point at 24-17. The Koreans staved off their reception set point, at which point the Finns made another interesting sub, bringing in young Niklas Seppänen in place of Sivula. Makes sense, since Sivula was back-row at the time and wouldn’t rotate to the front again unless the set somehow reached extra points. It didn’t — the Finns converted on reception, middle attack from Konstantin Shumov, at 25-18 to knot the match at 1 set aside.
Korea went out ahead first in set 3, claiming the 5-3 lead. The Finns equalised at 6-all following a great double block led by Shumov (practically inhuman hang time and extension) and an unforced error on the Korean side. Korea led 8-7 at the technical timeout following a kill that left one of the Finnish blockers laying flat on his back. Sivula got the equaliser from the pipe on the first rally back, and then Matti Oivanen led a triple block to put the Finns on top for the first time in the set. The “defence need not apply” match continued as an ace for Siltala made it 11-9, prompting Korea to call time.
The Finns had a shot to go up three on the 12-10 rally, as they came up with a rarity in this match — a dig — only to have the Koreans match them on the other side, and then get the kill themselves. The Koreans sided out fairly well, but continued to shoot themselves in the foot with service errors (which had dogged them in set 2). An ace from Shumov put the Finns up three for the first time in the set at 16-13, the second technical.
I had noted earlier, with a modicum of surprise, that the Koreans seemed to be the more demonstrative of the two teams. I paid it little mind, but as the match wore on, I couldn’t help but think they were if anything too demonstrative. They were celebrating kills for a sideout (and even opposition service errors for a sideout) by running around and shouting, grinning like they’d just won the World League. Act like you’ve been there before, please.
But I could perhaps understand their demonstrativeness as they made their comeback, closing to within a point and then tying on the heels of a couple of very fine serves by Jeon. The latter was a let-ace, and it was one of those where time itself seems to stop for a moment as we all wait to see whether the ball will or will not crawl over the net. This one did, and the Finns called time to regroup, the set knotted at 18-all. And regroup they did, with a solo block from Esko re-establishing their sideout advantage at 20-18. That prompted Korea to call time, and coming back, they got the sideout with a kill on the middle attack. They drew even once more at 20-all with a solo block by Song Myung-geun, and all right, celebrate that one.
Both sides finally started to play a little defence. 21-20 was one of the match’s longest rallies, ending with a triple block up the middle led by Shumov. He gave it a Kirk Gibson fist-pump as he landed. Play was stopped for about a minute on the rally ending 23-21, though I’m not sure why. The down official conferenced with the scorekeeper’s table before….making no change. This is where a commentator helps, you see. Finland called the set’s final timeout on reception at 23-22.
Finland reached set point at 24-22. Their serve went straight into the net. Their opportunity on reception was a miss, too, with Jeon powering through the triple block for the kill. Finland got another set point at 25-24, and went to a serving sub, Olli-Pekka Ojansivu. And he certainly earned some major brownie points with Finnish coach Tuomas Sammelvuo, as his one and only serve landed in untouched by a good few inches, his ace giving set 3 to the Finns.
The Koreans took the first three points of set 4, all much to the chagrin of Sammelvuo. The second was a very close touch/no touch call at the net. Replays were inconclusive. That prompted a timeout on the Finnish side, and they ran it back to even at 5-all shortly afterward. But not before one of the strangest plays I can ever recall seeing.
The serve from the Finnish side was about to land out untouched. The flagger started to indicate this, and then he changed his signal to out-touched….but the ball was still up. It wasn’t clear exactly what had happened. Both teams looked to be moving at about half-speed as they, likewise, seemed uncertain that the play was live. It ended with a kill for the Finns to, as mentioned, draw even. Replays showed that the play was called correctly — the serve hit Park Chul-woo on the ankle before it could hit the ground, and it wound up being a pretty textbook pass to the setter, who was very alert to keep playing, having not heard a whistle.
The technical came with Korea on top 8-7. They ran the middle attack well with Jeon and with Kwak, whose name I really should have been using a bit more in this report. A kill for Jeon brought them to a sideout advantage at 11-9. 12-11, Korea receiving, looked like something of a broken play. The libero had to set the outside from middle-back, leading to a swing that probably should have been blocked. Even when the Koreans dug the next swing from the Finnish side, it led to a tentative looking swing from the pipe by Park Chul-woo. But it found hands on its way out, to keep the Koreans on top. The Koreans took two big ones on serve, last a double block against the seemingly heretofore-invincible Sivula, to go up four at the second technical, 16-12.
The Finns went to Ojansivu again after the timeout, as a reception sub (?), but it mattered not as the next serve fell in for an ace. Then Lehtonen came in for Shumov, and you had to wonder if Sammelvuo wasn’t resting his top men for a race to 15. Korea extended their lead to 18-12, blocking Ojansivu on the right side, before the Finns could sideout. Seppänen came in again for Sivula on 20-14, and it was clear at that point that the Finns were packing it in. An ace for Kwak extended the Koreans to a 21-14 lead, and Finland called time. Korea also went to at least one sub, with Bu Yong-chan entering in place of Kwak after he rotated off serve. An ace for Park Chul-woo ended the set on the biggest lead Korea had all night, 25-15 the fourth set final.
After a smattering of defence in sets 2 and 3, there were only three total digs in set 4. Two for Korea, one for Finland. Yikes.
Jeon got Korea on the board first to start the decider, his wide hit finding hands on its way out. Han Sun-soo followed with a solo rejection of Mikko Oivanen, and you could just feel the energy in the arena as the crowd exploded. At 3-2, the Koreans got a kill when Matti Oivanen was called for a touch, and he was not happy about that. He threw out his arms in frustration and grabbed and flung the net. If you ask me, he was lucky not to get yellow-carded, which would have been huge in a 15-point set (under international rules, it’s an automatic point for the opposition). And he may have let his emotions get the best of him just a little — Park Sang-ha came up with a monstrous solo block up the middle against him to prompt a Finnish timeout at 6-3. A solo block from Jeon put the Koreans up 8-4 at the side change, and the stoic looks on the faces of the Finns spoke volumes.
Finland got their sideout on the first rally after the side change, as a wide hit found hands. Jeon again came with the sideout for the Koreans. He really came up with every big play for the Koreans in set 5. Korea went to a blocking sub on 10-6, something I only mention because Lee Sun-kyu is in fact noted as the team’s floor captain. I don’t know why the floor captain would be relegated to a one-rally blocking sub in the 5th set — maybe he’s hurt a little. The crowd seemed to recognise him, and cheer in approval, but he didn’t last long in the match.
At 11-8, Finland turned to their serving hero from set 3, Ojansivu. His serve was a good one, disrupting the Korean offence. The Finns seized the opportunity this presented, and drew back within 2 at 11-9. That prompted Korea’s timeout, which kind of iced their receivers. Ojansivu’s next serve hit Park Chul-woo in the back as he tried to get out of the way, and landed long for an ace. His next serve wasn’t legally returned either, making it 11-all as Korea took their final timeout. After that timeout, he finally served one long untouched, as the Korean libero had to find his inner contortionist to avoid the ball.
From there, the match tenuously lurched forward evenly. Korea got the first match point at 14-13, but the Finns staved it off with Matti Oivanen on the middle attack. Brother Mikko got the kill on the next rally to give Finland their match point, and a subsequent hitting error on the Korean side of the net ended it.
Finland d. Korea (23-25, 25-18, 26-24, 15-25, 16-14)
That was one hell of a match, and I hope other North American fans were up to see it.
Take nothing away from the players who fought out the other 200 or so rallies, but Finland don’t win this match without the timely-as-all hell serving by Olli-Pekka Ojansivu. He’s definitely my takeaway from the match, with two massively clutch serving performances when the team needed them the most.
Korea played a damned good match, and could easily have won. Park Chul-woo and Park Sang-ha were both firing on all cylinders, and it was in fact Jeon who led all scorers with 18 kills. If they had Moon for this match, they might have swept. Mikko Oivanen led the Finns with 15, with brother Matti chipping in 10 to go with 2 blocks and 4 aces.
Finland now lead Pool C outright. Even if Netherlands sweep Japan tomorrow, they’ll still be a point down. Both Finland and Korea are on the road next week, the Finns travelling to Japan while the Koreans head to Canada.
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