Latvian teams continue to impress at EEVZA U18 Beach Volleyball Championships

The second day of the EEVZA U18 Beach Volleyball Championships in Vilnius featured a playoff stage full of surprises, painful losses and joyous victories, with the Latvian teams continuing to dominate the tournament. As many as three Latvian teams will be competing for the top honours of the men’s competition – and another two have reached the women’s semis.  

In the women’s competition, the elimination phase was very steady, full of interesting matches, but without any major drama. Two Latvian teams - Eliza Dreimane/Kate Vasiljeva and Daniela Konstantinova/Zaiga Kalvane – comfortably advanced to the semis, featuring the Estonian team of Karlotta Kattai/Grete Jürgenson as well. The young Estonian girls will be playing against Eliza Dreimane and Kate Vasiljeva in the semis. The most unexpected team to reach the semis are Lithuania’s Rusne Rutkauskaite/Vilune Rauluseviciute, who outplayed three teams from their country and stumbled only in a three-set match against Dreimane/Vasiljeva to challenge Konstantinova and Kalvane in the last four.

The men’s competition was more intriguing, with a number of tiebreaks. Only one home team - Daniil Miscenko/Karolis Lanevski - managed to go all the way to the semi-final phase. With all straight wins, Latvians Matiss Salkovskis/Gustavs Auzins were the first team to reach the semis.

It was not an easy start of the elimination day for the Estonian team Joosep Põldma/Egert Roodi, who began their day with a tiebreak drama against Lithuanians Karolis Palubinskas/Rapolas Gilys. Although the Estonians lost the first set 17-21, they managed to cope with the pressure and eventually secured a 15-13 win at the tiebreak. However, Davis Teteris/Olivers Bulgacs of Latvia stopped their run in the second round of the elimination phase, thus progressing to the semis together with their compatriots Kaspars Kronbergs/Toms Emīls Liepa.

In the last game of the day, Lithuania’s Daniil Miscenko/Karolis Lanevski surprised their fans with a phenomenal comeback against another Estonian team - Tristan Täht/Mati Juus. Starting confidently and strongly, the Estonian team put a lot of pressure on the home side, confidently winning the first set by 21-9. However, the Lithuanians found their way back in the second set and finished the game in the decider set by 15-13, thus eliminating the second Estonian team from the competition.

Wednesday’s programme includes the semis and medal matches to crown the eventual winners of this year’s EEVZA U18 Beach Volleyball Championships.

Visit www.eevza.eu for further info, including full results.