Finland beats Serbia for first time since 2011, Slovakia snatches set from Italy
At the men's European Volleyball Championship, host Finland defeated Serbia to end a long losing streak, while Slovakia unexpectedly took a set off world champions Italy.
Finland's national volleyball team convincingly defeated Serbia on home ground, securing its first win over this opponent since 2011, having lost six consecutive meetings before this match. Finland opened the first set with a 10:6 lead and closed it out comfortably, but Serbia fought back in the second set after trailing 6:10. The third set proved the most tense, with Finland building a lead of up to six points and holding the initiative through several short scoring runs.
Jonas Jokela led Finland's scoring with 19 points, while teammate Noa Martila added 12 points, a third of which came from serves. For Serbia, Lazar Marinović was the top scorer with 14 points. Finland won the European League title earlier this summer.
Slovakia surprises Italy
In Modena, world champions Italy defeated Slovakia 3-1 overall, but Slovakia provided a surprise in the second set, coming back from two set points down to win it 27:25. Italy closed out the match 25:17, 25:27, 25:10, 25:19, finishing the third set with five consecutive won rallies.
For Italy, Pardo Mati scored 22 points including six blocks, while Matija Botolo and Yuri Romano each added 16. For Slovakia, Jakub Ihnat and Erik Gulak each scored 12 points.
Both matches were part of the preliminary round of the men's European Volleyball Championship, held across Italy, Bulgaria, Romania and Finland. In the overall standings, Finland leads its group with three wins from three matches, and Italy leads its own group with the same record.
