Caprioti: two wins in group stage would be an excellent result
Latvia's women's volleyball head coach Daniele Caprioti discussed expectations for a tough European Championship group ahead of the tournament, which starts Friday in Istanbul against hosts Turkey.
Ahead of the women's volleyball European Championship, Latvia's national team head coach Daniele Caprioti told Sportacentr.com he was impressed by the squad's motivation and mental resilience, particularly how players respond after losses.
During preparation, the team worked on speeding up its overall play, especially in zone four, and on improving serves as well as handling out-of-system balls. Caprioti acknowledged Latvia landed in one of the toughest groups, facing world-class opponents Turkey, Germany and Poland among their first three matches.
Starting lineup to stay unchanged
The coach said there would be no changes to the core group of leading players, given Latvia's limited player pool, though the team plans to rotate a wide range of players throughout the tournament.
Caprioti said two group-stage wins would be an excellent outcome, while one win would be considered good. He stressed that staying competitive in every match matters most, and that securing enough wins to advance to the next round would satisfy him. He also credited his coaching staff, noting that roughly ten matches of each opponent had been analyzed before the tournament.
Ranked 65th in the world, Latvia is the lowest-ranked team in its group, which also includes Turkey (3rd), Germany (12th), Poland (5th), Slovenia (19th) and Hungary (26th). The top four teams from the six-team group advance to the knockout stage.
Latvia opens the tournament on Friday, August 21 at 19:00 against Turkey at Istanbul's Sinan Erdem arena, which seats more than 16,000 spectators. Matches against Germany, Poland, Slovenia and Hungary follow.
