Cup finals in Iceland receive full media attention

This weekend brought to an end Iceland’s annual cup weekend, which matured Saturday, with live tv from the final and the semifinals that started Thursday. In total, 6 live Volleyball knock-out matches were broadcasted. Besides this, there was a full house of spectators during the finals so the organizing federation of Iceland (BLI) did a good job and delivered a product that was well covered in national media, both television, social media and press media. In total 6 live tv transmissions in 3 days which is a record, both for the national broadcaster RUV and the national federation BLI.

In the men’s finals, the Volleyball Club Hamar 50 km east of the capital Reykjavik succeeded to claim their 3rd  consecutive win in the Cup finals.  Hamar was taken on by the newcomers in Iceland Volleyball, Vestri from Ísafjörður, a local town of 3‘800 habitats, where Volleyball has grown popular and the club has to travel hundreds of kilometres for most weekly matches, where snow storms and darkness and difficult mountain roads are a part of the program. Vestri surprised the reigning Cup Champions by winning the first set but the team of Hamar led by the twin brothers Kristjan and Hafsteinn the captain, two of the most experienced Volleyball players in Iceland were not about to give in as they managed to strike back in the next 3 sets with victory 3-1 to secure their 3rd title in a row. The sets ended 20-25, 25-19, 25-14, and 25-21 for Hamar. The MVP of the match was Martin Grasza from Hamar.

In the women’s final it was the Volleyball club KA from Akureyri the northernmost club in Iceland, that took on the Volleyball club HK from Kopavogur, in the Reykjavik larger area. HK and KA also played for the finals in the Cup last year. KA had control from start to finish of the match and secured their 3rd win in rows 3-0, 25-15, 25-8, and 25-23. It was only in the third set that HK came close to team KA which was dominating the field in most aspects of the game, in particular with a strong serve and better attack formation with Helena Kristín Gunnarsdóttir the match MVP leading the way with 19 kills.