Malbun, Liechtenstein, April 2, 2017. Marta Ozolina/Jekaterina Stepanova made it all the way to the top of the podium at the Malbun stop of the 2017 CEV Snow Volleyball European Tour and delivered a historic first gold for Latvia in the circuit.

With their opponents forfeiting the semi-final match, Ozolina/Stepanova started their competition day on Sunday directly from the final, where they had to face the tournament pre-favourites Anna Dostalova/Michaela Knoblochova from the Czech Republic.

In the first set, the Czechs established control and showed why they are the best-ranked players in Europe. After losing the opening set, the Latvians found their rhythm, while Dostalova/Knoblochova started alternating some spectacular digs and blocks with unforced errors. Ozolina/Stepanova maintained their grip on the game through to the end, which came at 3-1 (7-11, 11-5, 11-5, 11-6) in their favour.

“It was hard! It was really hard!” were Marta Ozolina’s first words after the winning point. “But we are getting used to the snow, so it is getting better.”

“For us it was hard, because we did not play semi-finals and did not really get to warm up for the final, so we had to really come in strong. We lost the first set, but in the end we won and that is what is important,” Jekaterina Stepanova added.

After their first encounter with Snow Volleyball, the two Latvians admitted that they are already thinking of coming back as soon as next week in Italy, where the last competition on this year’s European Tour will take place.

The bronze medals in Malbun went to Switzerland’s Nina Crameri/Josiane Schöni, who previously lost their semi-final match to Dostalova/Knoblochova by 0-2 (3-11, 5-11).

For further information on the European Tour, click here or visit SnowVolleyball.com.