Latvian women’s volleyball team | Photo: volejbols.lv
The Latvian women’s volleyball team lost to Austria in four sets in a test match on Monday, the Latvian Volleyball Federation (LVF) reports. The team led by Italian specialist Daniele Mario Capriotti lost with the result 1-3 (19:25, 25:20, 11:25, 16:25).
Lāsma Ozola, Elvita Dolotova, Liene Šimkuse, Anna Rīta, Anija Jurdža, Vlada Pridatko and “libero” player Megija Grundmane went to the test match in Jelgava in the starting lineup for the Latvian national team, preparing for the qualification tournament of the European Championship. Later, the other “libero” player Kristine Kramēna, Maggie Dambrecht, Elza Reckner, Petra Nečiporuk, Paula Nečiporuk, Junora Vagele and Adelina Gerliņa were also on the court, 14 of the 16 volleyball players registered for the game went on the court.
The most productive with nine points in the Latvian team were the first pace players Lāsma Ozola and Anna Rīta, who stood out with five blocked attacks. Seven points were scored by Paula Nechiporuk, six by Anija Jurdža and five by Vlada Pridatko. Anamarija Galic scored 23 points for Austria, five of them with a block. The Latvians served better (six “goes” against four opponents and 14 service errors against 12 for Austria), but in all other main statistical indicators the guests did better.
“Talking about what the Austrians were better at today, let’s start with the European ranking, where Austria is in 20th place, and we are in 33rd place. Perhaps Austria simply had more experience and self-confidence. I’m not trying to find an alibi for the loss, but it was already the seventh test match for the Austrians. We tried to get more players involved and mostly played with 11 volleyball players because we don’t have that many test matches to evaluate the players,” said Capriotti after the match.
According to him, the best elements of the game in this game were the block in combination with the defense. “Serve reception also started working. Yes, there were mistakes, but the opponents also struggled a little with serving. We were a little better in these elements than before,” emphasized the coach, adding that it was difficult to stop the diagonal player Galic because the opposing team also has, for example, the first pace player Aida Mehic, who scored 13 points. “Today we focused more on Mehic and less on Galic. Galica, of course, played an incredible match, and maybe tomorrow we will change something in tactics.”
Coaches Andreis Odinokovs and Inguna Minusa, physical training coach Attilio Ruggeri from Italy, physiotherapist Roni Antero Recola from Finland and statistician Mareks Maksimovs help Caprioti in his work, while the team manager is Kristaps Cherniavskis. On Tuesday at 7 p.m., both national teams will meet again in Jelgava, in the Zemgale Olympic Center. The game will be broadcast live by the television channel “Best4Sport TV”.
The national team of Latvia was drawn together with Denmark, Slovakia and Spain in the qualification group of the European Championship. 12 teams – winners of the first two places of six groups – enter the final tournament. Participation among the best teams has already been ensured by four host countries – Italy, Germany, Belgium and Estonia, as well as the eight best teams according to the results of the 2021 competition – Serbia, Turkey, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, France, Sweden and Bulgaria. Since the Russian teams have been suspended from international competition due to the invasion of Ukraine, a decision on this place in the final tournament is still awaited.
