The Latvian national team conceded to the Estonian national team with 0-3 (21:25, 21:25, 18:25).
Elvita Dolotova, Inese Jursone, Lāsma Ozola, Anija Jurdža, Liene Šimkuse and Terēze Hrapāne, as well as “libero” Kristīne Kramēna and Elīna Zvaigzne started the game for the Latvian national team, but during the game 13 of the 16 players entered in the minutes were allowed to speak.
The most productive Latvian team with 15 points was Vladas Pridatko, who scored four points in the block. 11 points for Anija Jurdza, two points less for Jursone, but Šimkuse and Ozola scored seven points.
Nete Peita scored 16 points, Kertu Lāka 15 points and Kristīne Mīlena – 11 points.
In the first set, a similar fight lasted until the middle of the set, when at 11:10 after Juržža’s attack, Latvia was in the lead. At the end of the set, the misunderstanding of Latvian players played in Estonia’s favor, the housewives won the set with 25:21.
In the second set, Latvia took the lead with 4: 1, but lost four points in a row and was no longer in the lead – 21:25.
The start of the third set did not give up – 7: 1 and 17: 7 in favor of Estonia. We managed to approach the gap of six points, but also the third set with 25:18 and the whole game was won 3-0 by the housewives.
After three sets played, both teams played another set, in which Latvians were superior with 25:20.
In the fourth set, the Estonians put conditional reserves on the field, and the Latvian team, after reaching 7: 2, did not allow their opponents to get equalization, allowing them to approach only the point deficit and winning the set with 25:20.
The Estonian national team could not be helped in this match by the sick captain Julia Monakme, Kadi Kulerkana and Hanna Pajula.
“The plan of the game was to win. We managed to win one set, maybe not with the best team in Estonia,” Inese Jursone, the second pace player, briefly commented on the result.
“The first paces tried to do their job. It also depended on the reception of the service. We tried to go up and hit the ball much faster and hit it higher – as we had planned with the coaches. In the block we tried to ‘gather’ all the players and block them,” after The match was said by Terēze Hrapāne, the first pace player of the Latvian national team. “In the third set, I think we fell a little into the reception, because the Estonians started to serve much more aggressively and more stably. As a result, there was a lot more work for the fourth zone players and the ‘diagonal’.”
The next two games in Paide for the Latvian national team are expected on Wednesday and Thursday. On Wednesday, the match in Paide will start at 18, but a day later at 12.
The live video of the third game will be shown by the Estonian Volleyball Federation Facebook page while the second game on the Internet portal postimees.ee.
The Latvian women’s volleyball team, led by Inguna Minus, went to the test matches in Estonia with 18 players, among them the talented Marta Kamēlija Levinska. She has already gone to study in the USA.
In the last three days of July, the Estonian national team has already played three test matches with the Finnish national team right there in Paide, accumulating the experience of this summer’s games before the matches with Latvia. In two of the three games, the two teams exchanged victories in five sets, but in another match, the Estonians were superior in three sets.
The opponents of the Latvian national team in the European Championship qualification tournament are Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The two-round games are scheduled to take place in January.
The final tournament is scheduled for August and September 2021 in Serbia, Croatia, Bulgaria and Romania. Four home teams and the top eight teams from previous European Championships, Turkey, Italy, Poland, the Netherlands, Germany, Russia, Belgium and Azerbaijan, have already secured a place among the top 24 teams in Europe. The remaining 12 places in the final tournament will be taken by the winners of the six groups and the second place winners.
The composition of the Latvian women’s volleyball team for test matches with Estonia:
Raisers – Elvita Dolotova (“Jelgava”), Elza Reknere (RVS), Rūta Linde (Rovaniemi “Wovo”, Finland);
The first tempo attackers – Terēza Hrapāne, Lāsma Ozola (both – RVS), Darya Tarasenko (“miLATss”), Kristīne Dzierkale (“Jelgava”);
Diagonal players – Vlada Pridatko (both – RVS);
The second pace attackers are Elza Smilškalne, Anija Juržža, Evelīna Rutkovska (all – RSU / MVS), Inese Jursone (“Jelgava”), Paula Nēchiporuka (Virginia Commonwealth University, NCAA), Ingrīda Schigere (“Salzburg”), Liene Šimkuse SC);
Libero – Kristīne Kramēna, Elīna Zvaigzne (both – RVS), Linda Šteinberga (RSU / MVS).
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