Latvia's volleyball women fall to Croatia in final warm-up before Euros

Latvia's national women's volleyball team lost 1-3 (10:25, 6:25, 25:13, 24:26) to Croatia on Monday in Riga, in their final warm-up match ahead of the European Championship. A day earlier, the Latvians had actually beaten Croatia 3-2, despite their opponents ranking far higher in the world rankings.

In both matches head coach Daniele Mario Cappriotti used extensive squad rotation to gather information before the tournament. In Monday's match, team leader Marta Kamēlija Levinska and starting setter Elvita Dolotova were rested, appearing only briefly at the end of the third and fourth sets. As a result, Latvia struggled to find its rhythm in the first two sets, while Croatia fielded its strongest lineup and served very effectively. Latvia fought back in the third and fourth sets, showing a steadier performance, but failed to hold a two-point lead late in the fourth set and narrowly missed forcing a fifth set.

Team captain Paula Ņečiporuka said the match served as a good conclusion to the preparation period, though the team lacked match rhythm early on since training rotations differ from real match situations against a stable opponent.

Megija Dambrehte led Latvia's scoring with 11 points, Ņečiporuka added 9, while Levinska scored 8 points in her limited playing time with 56% attacking efficiency. All 16 registered players took part in the match.

Squad for the European Championship

After the match, coaches announced the final 14 players who will travel to the European Championship — Sandija Bērziņa and Katrīna Struka were left out of the group. Latvia's team flies to Istanbul on Wednesday, where it opens the group stage against host nation Turkey on August 21, followed by matches against Germany, Poland, Slovenia and Hungary. The top four teams from each group advance to the round of 16. This marks Latvia's first appearance at a women's European Championship since 1997.