Latvia opens European volleyball championship with win over host Romania

Latvia's men's national volleyball team opened its European Championship campaign with a 3-1 (26:24, 18:25, 25:21, 26:24) victory over host Romania on Wednesday in Cluj-Napoca, in a Group D match.

Romania took an early lead in the first set, but midway through, Latvia turned the tables and pulled ahead. The hosts responded with a strong run to regain the advantage, yet Latvia fought back late in the set, aided by blocks from Gustavs Freimanis, and closed it out after an attack from Renārs Jansons.

Romania started the second set more decisively and, despite conceding the opening point, quickly built a lead that held until the set's end.

In the third set, Latvia opened with a two-point advantage and the contest remained close throughout. Latvia briefly stretched its lead to three points, but Romania equalized. After the score was tied late in the set, a block from Freimanis sealed it for Latvia.

Latvia again started strong in the fourth set, but the hosts caught up. In the decisive stretch, Latvia overcame a two-set deficit and secured the match win with an attack from substitute player Armands Rokjāns.

Captain Kristaps Šmits led Latvia's scoring with 14 points, followed by Jānis Medenis with 12 and Freimanis with 10. Head coach Uģis Krastiņš made several substitutions during the match that influenced the team's performance.

The two national teams previously met this summer in the European League, where Latvia won convincingly in Riga. Overall, the teams have split their head-to-head meetings evenly.

In the Group D tournament being held in Cluj-Napoca, Latvia will next play Germany, France, Switzerland and Turkey. The European Championship runs from September 9 to 26 across several countries, with the top four teams from each group advancing to the round of 16.