Young Liepāja volleyball players reach Latvian Cup semifinals

Young volleyball players from the Liepāja Sports Games School won the last place in the semifinals of the CEWOOD Latvian Cup on Thursday. In the second leg in Riga against the team of Riga Stradiņš University (RSU), they won 3-1 (22:25, 25:21, 29:27, 27:25). In the semifinal, the team led by coach Raimonds Liniņš will meet the Latvian champions, Robežsardze/RSU, the Latvian Volleyball Federation reports.

A week earlier, in the first game of the tie in Liepāja, the Kurzeme side also won, needing four sets. In Riga, the Liepāja players again lost the first set, but gradually adapted to their opponents and took the initiative.

Top performers

Aksels Marks Džeriņš scored 17 points. Kārlis Juriks added 12 points with high efficiency and was named his team's best player. Juriks is 16 years old.

Players' comments

Juriks said the team had wanted to test itself against one of the strongest teams in the Baltic League. He explained that it was the first time they had played at the RSU Sports Centre, so the start was harder, but the game improved once they got used to it. According to him, the team has strong motivation to fight to the end, even when trailing by ten points.

In the third and fourth sets the visitors came back and won tense finishes. Juriks called this a strength of the team, one they work on a lot in training, and said that long rallies won and blocked balls at key moments were decisive.

What comes next

The Latvian Cup, supported by CEWOOD, is being held for the sixth season. The finals are scheduled for 12 December at the Rimi Olympic Centre in Riga. Tickets are available at Biļešu paradīze box offices across Latvia and online.

Earlier, Robežsardze/RSU reached the semifinals by beating VK Ventspils in both games. On Wednesday, Jēkabpils Lūši and Ezerzeme/DU/Homelike also advanced. The current cup holders from Daugavpils needed a golden set to beat VK Aizpute.