Australian captain Paul Carroll spikes past Finland's block
Helsinki, Finland, June 10, 2017 –
Paul Carroll was on fire in Helsinki on Saturday afternoon as his Volleyroos from
Australia mastered a 3-1 (25-21, 14-25, 25-21, 25-19) win against hosts
Finland in an FIVB Volleyball World League Group 2 match.
Quick links - Volleyball:
The boys from Down Under felt right at home up in the Nordic lands, as Carroll led them to victory with 22 points on his tally.
Luke Smith contributed 13, while
Urpo Sivula and
Jan Helenius split the honours on Finland’s side with 12 points each.
This was the fifth World League match between Australia and Finland and the record now stands at 3-2 victories in favour of the Volleyroos.
This match also made history by setting a new record-high attendance for a home game of the Finnish national team with 7,723 spectators observing the clash in Helsinki.
The first set was even to the 20th point, but in the last rallies Australia made the difference and won by four points - 25-21. Paul Carroll scored a huge 10 points for his team.
Finland came back in the second set and controlled it from the beginning through the end. The final score was a clear 25-14 in favour of the Finns.
In the third set Australia scored five points in a row to jump from 17-17 to 22-17. That was the momentum they needed to close the set at 25-21.
The Volleyroos came into the fourth set very determined. They took the lead straight from the beginning and never gave it away. A powerful spike by
Nathan Roberts ended the set at 25-19.