Teams from four countries vie for medals at EEVZA U18 Beach Volleyball Championships

Teams from Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Ukraine remain in contention for the medals at the EEVZA U18 Beach Volleyball Championships in Cesis, which count as a zonal qualifier for this year’s U18 European Championship. The decisive matches begin on Friday at 10:00 am local time.

A duel featuring local teams headlines the men’s semi-finals. Ernests Pastars and Renārs Lasmanis won all their group stage matches and then defeated Ukraine’s Andrii Shulhin and Daniil Tverdokhlib 2-0 (21-15, 21-9) in the quarterfinals. Olivers Pope and Niks Amelkovics faced a much tougher path. They lost their first two matches of the tournament, but secured a spot in the knockout stage with a 2-0 (21-18, 21-13) victory over Estonia’s Maksim Povjakel and Andri Koitla. In the knockout stage, they beat the third-seeded Ukrainians Andrii Merkulov and Oleksandr Khomenko 2-1 (17-21, 21-17, 15-11), and then, in another three-set match, defeated Orestas Kubilius and Emilis Bendikas from Lithuania 2-1 (21-15, 18-21, 15-8) in the quarterfinals. In the other semi-final, Lithuania’s Rokas Lukosevicius and Kristupas Sliezauskas will play against Poland’s Igor Gliszczynski and Alan Robak. 

In the girls’ tournament, two Ukrainian teams – Mariia Shkurat/Marharyta Vapniar and Anastasiia Boiko/Aleksandra Kovalchuk – will compete for a spot in the final. Both teams won their respective groups and defeated Polish and Lithuanian duos in the quarterfinals. Shkurat/Vapniar beat the Polish pair Natalia Lewandowska and Hanna Lesniewicz 2-0 (21-12, 21-12), while Boiko/Kovalchuk comfortably beat Lithuania’s Meja Motiekaityte and Meja Matiukaite 20 (21:14, 21:10). The two top-seeded teams met in the quarterfinals. Home favourites Paula Krieva and Estere Zaķīte defeated Aleksandra Wolny and Zuzanna Legien of Poland 2-0 (21-19, 21-7). In the second semi-final, the Latvians will face sisters Agata and Beatrice Michalkeviciute from Lithuania, who won a tight match 2-1 (21-19, 11-21, 15-8) against another local pair, Karlīna Bērziņa and Milana Tina Aleksejeva.

The eventual champions and runners-up in both the boys’ and girls’ tournaments will secure a spot to compete at the CEV U18 Beach Volleyball European Championships which will be held in Izmir, Türkiye, from September 17 to 20.

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