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Finland win their first match at #EuroVolleyW Qualifier, after playing a five-setter against Montenegro. The Finnish team lost the opening set, but took the lead in second and third part of the game. Montenegro managed to bounce back, turning the match into a tie-breaker, but Finland had the last word. On Sunday Montenegro will be playing against Slovakia, who are yet to lose a game in the Qualifier, while Finland will be facing Kosovo.

• Nikoleta PEROVIC (MNE) scored an impressive 27 points for Montenegro

• Anna CZAKAN (FIN) was the second top scorer of the game with 21 points - almost half of those were blocks, as Czakan gained 10 points in this element! 

• None of the other blockers came close to Czakan’s achievement, but Daniela ÖHMAN (FIN) and Nikoleta PEROVIC (MNE) scored 4 points each

• Finland and Montenegro went head to head in serving, with Finnish team scoring 6 aces, while Montenegro gained 5 points. Four of those were served by Saska Djurovic (MNE).

• Both teams have one victory and one loss so far, but Montenegro keep a second position in the table thanks to ranking points (4), while Finland remain third with 2 points. 

Nikola Masonicic, coach of Montenegro: “This was a tough game, one or two balls decided who won the match. I hope we will play tomorrow as well as we did today, I expect one hard game Slovakia.”

Melisa Cenovic, libero of Montenegro: “I want to congratulate my team, because we were fighting until the end. We played great match against Finland. I think tournament in Slovakia will be even better, because now we know where we are with our game.”

Tapio Kangasniemi, coach of Finland: “Luckily we won 3-2, of course this is good but I think we can be better. Our game has too many ups and downs, we can pass a little better, so it will help us in the future.”

Piia Korhonen, opposite of Finland: “We played really good as a team. We still had struggles at the end of sets, we made too many mistakes. We have to concentrate to just play one ball at a time, but we won in the end and I think we had a good energy.”