Salon Piivolley is a Finnish volleyball team from Salo

Salo

Salo may refer to:*Salo, Finland, a town in Western Finland*Salò, a town in Lombardy, Italy**Salò Republic or Italian Social Republic, a puppet state of Nazi Germany*Salo Township, Aitkin County, Minnesota, a township in Minnesota, U.S....

, Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

. It was founded in 1999. The team plays in the Finland volleyball league, where it is considered one of the best teams.

History

Two volleyball clubs, Perttelin Peikot and Salon Piivolley, decided to join their clubs and create a new club. The resulting club was named Salon Piivolley. Piivolley continued in the Finland volleyball league in Perttelin Peikot's place. During the 2001 season the team won bronze in the league, and in the 2003 season it won the Finland Cup Championship. After that Piivolley played many successful years. The club advanced to league finals three times during the 2004-2006 seasons, but lost every final game. The team also had good success in the Finland Cup, when they advanced to the cup finals during 2004, 2006 and 2007. Once there, however, they lost to Pielaveden Sampo in 2006 and 2007 and to Raision Loimu in 2004.

Notable players

• Olli Aakula
• Gabor Janosi
• Matti Hietanen
• Sami Heikkiniemi
• Kert Toobal
• Jussi Niemelä

Other

During the 2003 season the team was caught up in a doping scandal when one team player was caught using performance enhancers. However, the player acted alone and the team had no knowledge of his activities. The player was banned from play for two years.