Latvian teams claim double gold at EEVZA U16 Beach Volleyball Championships

EEVZA Beach Volleyball Championship

On Sunday afternoon, the 2021 edition of the EEVZA U16 Beach Volleyball Championships reached its climax in Vilnius, with teams from Latvia emerging as the dominant force in the competition.

The top three teams from the girls’ competition

A Lithuanian and Latvian clash in the women’s semi-finals opened the final day of the tournament. Latvia’s Beate Bonija Runce/Liva Ebere delivered a very solid performance to claim a 2-0 (21-14, 21-16) victory and send Lithuania’s Morta Gailiute/Aiste Bardauskate to fight for the bronze medals.

The second semi-final was another clash featuring teams from Latvia and Lithuania. Even though they lost the first set by two points only, Lithuania’s Elena Kuodaityte/Liepa Urbonaite showed much character as they came from behind to claim the second set as well as the tiebreak (15-7) in their matchup with Eva Elizabete Brokāne and Jelizaveta Izotova.

Brokāne and Izotova did not manage to recover from this setback and eventually lost the bronze medal match to Gailiute/Bardauskaite.

Runce/Ebere initially seemed to sail comfortably towards the gold medal in the ‘big final’, but Kuodaityte/Urbonaite responded well to claim the second set. The real drama unfolded in the tiebreak with continuous turnarounds and the Latvians eventually having the upper hand at 22-20.

The full podium of the boys’ tournament

Moving to the boys’ competition, the first semi-final was an interesting rematch between Oskars Kilks/Markuss Maculēvičs of Latvia and Estonia’s Ralf Aros/Ranel Rahuoja, who did everything in their power to take their revenge. It was a very close fight, but the Latvian duo looked more precise in their defence and attacks, eventually securing a 2-1 victory (21-23, 21-19, 18-16). Latvia’s Matiss Šalkovskis/Karlis Jaundžeikars were crystal-clear winners of the second semi-final, where they beat their compatriots Patriks Orups/Ralfs Andrejevs 2-0 (21-7, 21-7).

Estonian’s Aros/Rahuoja made up for their disappointment earlier in the day as they easily won the bronze medal match against Orups/Andrejevs. Salkovskis/Jaundžeikars extended their supremacy in the final, as they claimed the gold medal without losing a single game throughout the tournament. Matiss Salkovskis celebrated his second triumph this week in Vilnius, since only three days earlier he had won the U18 competition as well – but with a different partner, Gustavs Auzins.