Gislaved Hopeless Against Series Leader

It was thrilling. The third and final set went to "overtime balls". "We could have had it," says Lisa Tannerfalk.

FINAL SCORE: Gislaved 0 - Engelholm 3 (6-25, 15-25, 26-28)

In terms of the level of the third set, Gislaved VK probably deserved the set-win to extended the match further. But then it was also undefeated Engelholm as the opponent. EVS's dominance was particularly noticeable in the first set, however, it was also Gislaved who looked scared.

"I'll be completely honest and say that this was the worst we have performed this season. They served us out. Our serve reception did not work and the few balls we got up, we missed or so we gave them free balls," says Tannerfalk.

Yes, it was not a pretty sight, the first set. But you played it. The second set went up to a lead of 10-5 and it looked really bright.

But then: "[Engelholm] got a few in-a-row. We had problems with our rotations when their Austrian and their setter served."

The visiting team walked from a 10-5 deficit to win the set 15-25.

But then came the thrilling final set.

The teams kept pace all the way and it was close that Gislaved would take the set at 24-22. But Engelholm caught up. Eventually it would be a GVK loss, with 26-28. An inglorious termination of a climb where GVK was heading for something special.

"Recovering from the first set, I think, is strong. Teams can bury themselves after such performances."

"It is really disappointing when we did not win the third set. We know we can and we were so close! It was extremely important that we stepped it up and that we played tighter in third. It will take a while to get over this, signs of a competitor."

As long as you don't grieve over the loss.

"It will probably take one to two days. We do not have much more time to reflect when it is new match on Sunday. But in the end we should be pleased with our performance today."

IMPACT PLAYERS//GISLAVED: 

Lauren Rafdal (10 kills, 1 block)

Jollan Åkerlund (3 blocks, 1 kill)

Anna Dyakiewicz (2 aces, 1 kill)

Amanda Länkinen (libero) MVP

IMPACT PLAYERS//ENGELHOLM:

Isabelle Haak (18 kills, 3 blocks) MVP

Jen Cross (11 kills, 1 block)

Hannah Allison (5 aces, 3 blocks, 2 kills)