Volleyball

Lithuania close to spring a surprise at EEVZA #EuroVolleyU20W qualifier

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Article Thu, Jan 4 2024

The second day of the EEVZA qualifier for this year’s #EuroVolleyU20W started with an extremely energetic and festive mood already before the first matchup featuring the national teams of Latvia and Azerbaijan. Unfortunately for the young Azerbaijani players, Latvia did not show any mercy and left them no chance by cruising to a speedy and comprehensive 3-0 (25-11, 25-9, 25-20) win. 

Lithuania could not capitalise on a surprising 2-0 lead in their matchup with Ukraine

The second match of the day involved the teams of Estonia and Poland. It started with some intrigue as Estonia caught their favourite rivals by surprise to claim the first set by 25-23. However, the Polish coaching staff made some quick and effective adjustments to impose their rule in the second set. Afterwards, they did not let their guard down anymore, eventually taking a 3-1 victory (23-25, 25-8, 25-15, 25-14) to keep a perfect record in the competition following their success on Wednesday against hosts Lithuania. 

Nobody expected that the last match of the day between Lithuania and Ukraine would last for five sets. Although it seemed that the pre-favourite players from Ukraine were destined to storm to a comfortable win, Team Lithuania put a lot of pressure on their rivals and demonstrated a real high-quality game, thereby winning the first two sets. However, their show of strength did not last for long enough. In the third set, they initially edged ahead at 7-2, but the Ukrainian national team took over the initiative and did not slip it away till the end. The Lithuanians started to make more and more mistakes and the rivals, on the other hand, showed their superiority. The decisive, fifth set was not successful for the home side either and the match ended in favour of the visitors after completing a terrific comeback (22-25, 20-25, 25-15, 25-22, 15-6).

The tournament continues Friday. Live streaming of all matches is available on the official YouTube channel of the Lithuanian Volleyball Federation

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