14/03/2021 22:00
Russia win EEVZA qualifier to stamp ticket to #EuroVolleyU16W
CEV U16 Women Volleyball European Championship
Daugavpils, Latvia, March 14, 2021. Russia qualified on Sunday for the final stage of this year’s #EuroVolleyU16W as they claimed the top spot at the EEVZA qualifier held in Daugavpils, Latvia, where the home team finished the competition in seventh place.
The competition counted as European qualifier and as EEVZA U16 championship as well. Team Latvia ended the event on a high note as they beat Georgia 3-0 (25-12, 25-17, 25-15) in the classification match for places seven and eight. Elizabete Zimeta top scored for the home side with 11 points. Aleksandra Timbere scored nine times, as Jeļizaveta Izotova and Anete Čelnova finished the match on a personal tally of eight and seven points, respectively. Mariam Mushkudiani top scored for Georgia in their losing effort with 10 points.
“If I have to be honest, that is how the balance of power actually is,” Ieva Ņečiporuka, the head coach of Team Latvia said at the end of the home tournament. “I am glad that the girls gained much important game experience and got to play to see where we are at the moment, compared to the opponents. My players saw what they should be striving for.”
Despite finishing seventh, hosts Latvia gained valuable experience while competing on home soil in Daugavpils
“It is still an open issue,” the coach said about the substitution of two starting players who suffered an injury against Georgia. “We are trying out all girls and we hope for a speedy recovery of both players. Nevertheless, Elizabete Zimeta fit in very well with the rest of our starters.” To improve the result for this age group next time, “we have to work a lot on improving our physical condition. We have worked on the technique during our training camps, but the girls have to learn to plan their daily routine independently, not just following our instructions, in order to find time for their physical condition as well,” the trainer indicated the direction of the future work.
Russia claimed the ticket to the Final Round, doing so after defeating Poland 3-0 (25-21, 25-23, 25-21) in the final match. Belarus ended the tournament in third place after recording a 3-0 (25-22, 25-17, 25-18) victory over Estonia, with Ukraine routing Lithuania 3-0 (25-16, 25-19, 25-23) to claim the match for the fifth place. The second to sixth place winners secured their place in the second round of qualifiers scheduled for May.
The company LatGran - the main supporter of the Latvian youth national teams – provided the awards presented to the best player of each participating team. These are Aleksandra Walczak (POL), Russia’s Polina Kovaleva, Mariam Mushkudiani (GEO), Latvia’s Elizabete Zimeta, Rusne Kalendraite (LTU), Bohdana Hrytsyk (UKR), as well as Merili Körvel and Aliaksandra Panasiuk for Estonia and Belarus, respectively.
The programme of the tournament in Daugavpils featured 16 matches across four days of competition. As many as 164 athletes, coaches and members of staff together with 28 volunteers were involved. The organisers performed 267 COVID-19 tests throughout the competition, with none returning a positive case.
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