Daugavpils Children and Youth Sports School held the first round qualification of the European U17 Championship for the national teams of the Eastern European Volleyball Zonal Association (EEVZA). The Latvian girls’ national team lost to the Polish national team in the last match, taking third place, informs the Latvian Volleyball Federation.
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Fighting against the nominally stronger Polish team, Latvia took the lead (2:0) in the first set, however, the opponents scored six points in a row (4:9) and gained a bigger lead (10:19) in the continuation, thus the home team lost 15:25. In the second set, the Polish women scored five points in a row (2:6), the deficit became bigger, but two “es” by Karmena Strukas allowed them to get closer (10:15). Two blocks raised more hope (14:16), besides Katrina Struka’s shot ensured 16:17. However, they failed to equalize and the Latvian national team lost with 20:25. In the third set, the opponents accumulated an advantage (5:10), Helena Rita’s “run” gave 7:10, besides, the Polish women did not get the ball over the net twice (11:12). After that, the difference became bigger (15:21), so Latvian volleyball players lost 20:25.
Katrīna Struka scored nine points for the Latvian national team, while her sister Karmena Struka added five, and this time she scored three. Zofija Pinderska was the top scorer for Poland with 13 points.
The first qualifying round of the European U17 Girls’ Championship and the EEVZA Championship took place in Daugavpils for the second year in a row.
“There are great feelings. These medals are special and important for us, because I think it is one of the first competitions of this kind for our country. So the feelings are really great, it all gives a new impetus. Because I can say that we start with this ,” says the head coach of the Latvian national team, Daniele Mario Caprioti. “Poland won this time, but before that we beat Estonia, Lithuania and Georgia with 3-0. That’s a lot. We’re here, we’re learning and we want to get closer to teams like Poland and Ukraine.”
“We managed to create a team spirit,” admits the head coach, who thanks his colleagues, including his assistants Ieva Nechiporukas and Jānis Jerumanis. “We represent Latvia. We have realized that we can compete and win a medal. We must continue to work in this direction. We are a small country, we must use the opportunity to move forward and hold on. The next step is the second round of qualification, we will wait for the draw – then we will see who we will have to play against . We have to work to get to the finals of the European Championship. If we take the opportunities we can get there. The girls were great but we have to learn from the losses. Win or learn – that’s very important. We have to prepare as best as we can for the second qualifying round, now that’s the main task.”
