Young Liepāja side beat RSU again to reach Latvian volleyball cup semi-final against champions

Young players from Liepāja Sports Games School took the last place in the semi-finals of the Latvian men's volleyball cup, sponsored by CEWOOD, on Thursday. They beat the team of Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) 3-1 (22-25, 25-21, 29-27, 27-25) in the return leg of their quarter-final in Riga, the Latvian Volleyball Federation said. Liepāja had also won the first leg in four sets a week earlier.

Two tight finishes

Raimonds Liniņš's team lost the first set in both games before finding their rhythm. On Thursday the third and fourth sets decided it, and the visitors won both by two points, 29-27 and 27-25. Aksels Marks Džeriņš scored 17 points for the winners and 16-year-old Kārlis Juriks added 12 with high efficiency. Juriks was named his team's best player.

“Close finishes are our strength, and we work on them a lot in training,” Juriks said after the game. He said it was harder at first at the RSU sports centre, where the team had never played before, but the game improved: “Even if we are ten points down, we chase every ball.”

Champions next

In the semi-finals Liepāja will face the Latvian champions Robežsardze/RSU, who beat VK Ventspils in both quarter-final games. “We really wanted to test ourselves against one of the strongest teams in the Baltic League. Now we have earned that chance,” Juriks said.

In the other semi-final the holders, Ezerzeme/DU/Homelike, play Jēkabpils Lūši. Both teams went through on Wednesday. The cup finals will be played at the Rimi Olympic Centre in Riga on 12 December.

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