Croatia and Greece start #EuroVolleyU16W with comprehensive wins
News
On Thursday, the teams representing Greece and Croatia started the #EuroVolleyU16W second round qualifier in Latvia with comprehensive wins. The home favourites of Latvia lost to Croatia, while Greece edged another Baltic team, Estonia.
Greece was the first to take the court, earning a 3-0 (25-16, 25-22, 25-22) victory over Estonia. Although the Estonian team held early leads in each set, the momentum shifted toward the Greek side by the end of each one. Dorothea Christina Karagkouti led the Greek team with 15 points, including three aces, while Estonia’s Astrid Jakobson scored 11 points for her team.
In the second match, Latvia had to accept a 0-3 loss (18-25, 18-25, 21-25) to Croatia in front of their home crowd. In the first set, Latvia took an early 3-1 lead after an attack by Veronika Aleksejeva, but Croatia responded with five consecutive points, thereby taking an 8-4 lead after an ace by Erin Ivezić. Latvia managed to level the score at 12-12 after an attack by Alise Armale, but another five-point Croatian run sparked by an unstoppable serve from Emilie Stojić propelled the visitors to an 18-13 advantage. The set ended 25-18 after an attack from Ivezić.
Latvia again had a small lead at the beginning of the second set, but after going up 4-3, the visitors strung together five straight points and later extended their lead to nine (15-6). The set concluded at 25-18 following a service error by Melānija Belova.
Croatia, one of the group favourites, started the third set with a commanding 10-3 lead after an ace from Lana Drviš. Latvia managed a seven-point run, closing the gap to 18-20 after an attack error by Ivezić. The decisive point was scored by Stojić, who gave Croatia a 25-21 win.
Samanta Liepa was named the best player for Latvia, while Tara Radojičić received the same honour for Croatia. In the Latvian team, Armale and Adriana Bukovska each scored eight points. For the visiting team, Drviš and Ivezić scored 13 points apiece - with Drviš serving four aces - and Stojić added 10 points, three of them from serves.
Raivis Mizāns“We were up against the fourth-ranked team in Europe, and I would say we played point-for-point. We lacked experience, but over the past year we have progressed so much that the game was of a high quality. Croatia played the entire match with their starting lineup and did not make a single substitution, which shows that we are on the right path.”
Head coach of Latvia