Team Lithuania poised to contest historic #EuroVolleyU20W qualifier on home soil
News
The city of Kaunas, Lithuania, is due to host this weekend a second-round #EuroVolleyU20W qualifier featuring the national teams of Czechia, Montenegro, Slovenia, and hosts Lithuania. The #EuroVolleyU20W Final Round is scheduled for later this year and will be taking place in Sofia (Bulgaria) and Dublin (Ireland). The winners of the five second-round qualifiers plus the four runners-up with the best result across the five pools will all punch their ticket to the Finals.
The head coach of the Lithuanian national team, Jolita Kontvainienė, says that all players have been impatiently waiting for the start of the tournament on home soil:
“The mood is very good because we are all looking forward to the event. We have been working towards it for a long time. The opponents are very strong, but we have gained good experience by competing in the Lithuanian women’s national championship, so we are ready. The results will depend on many factors – how the opponents will play, and how the spectators will support us.”
The last time Lithuania played host to such a European qualifier was in 2017, so this moment is somehow historic for the Lithuanian Volleyball Federation. “We are very happy with the opportunity to host this event - as our rising players have a rare chance to play at home in front of their supporters. The players are motivated and ready to put up a fight. Therefore, it will be three days of celebration of Volleyball for us and for the whole volleyball community. Nonetheless, we have faced many organisational issues to bring this event to Kaunas, but we are happy that we managed to solve them, and we will now be enjoying the U20 matches. I would like to wish all teams the best of luck in the tournament and hope they will have a good time in the second largest city of Lithuania,” said Alisa Cesnuleviciute, Secretary General of the Lithuanian Volleyball Federation.