Kaunas-VDU volleyball players – Lithuanian champions
The Kaunas-VDU team triumphed in the Teida Lithuanian Women’s Volleyball Championship, which concluded on 30 March at the VMU President Valdas Adamkus Sports Centre, after an impressive drama.
The first game of the final on Friday was won 3-1, bringing Kaunas players one step closer to the championship. However, in the return match on Saturday, volleyball fans were treated to a drama of rare beauty as Jonava’s Aušrinė-JSC defeated Kaunas-VDU 3-2 (25:21, 25:19, 23:25, 23:25, 15:12) and evened the series score.
The energetic and well-supported players from Jonava won both the first and the second sets quite confidently. However, they could not finish the job the easy way – both the third and the fourth sets were played more accurately by the Kaunas players, who equalized the score. Finally, in the fifth set, Aušrinė-JSC seized the opportunity and snatched victory in the second match.
Jonava scored 19 points each with Jekaterina Kovalskaja and Danielė Kvedaraitė, 15 points with Greta Mikoliūnaitė, and 11 points with Iryna Jakutavičienė. Martyna Paukštytė scored 17 points, Gvanca Ulumbelavili and Eglė Makauskaitė scored 15 points each, and Gabija Kasperavičiūtė scored 12 points. A draw in the series meant that the Lithuanian champions were decided in the golden set. In this set, the Kaunas-VDU volleyball players proved their superiority 15:7, regaining the championship after a year’s break.
It was Aušrinė-JSC that broke the dominance of Kaunas last year and became the national champion after an eight-year break. “It was a tough match and the spectators had to enjoy it. The most important match was yesterday, and today Aušrinė-JSC started the match in a very good mood. We made a lot of mistakes and had problems. I’m glad that we managed to stay strong and keep the victory in the golden set. It was a different game in the regular season because in the finals there are more emotions and stress, so the forces are more equal. I am glad that our team showed character in the end,” said Kaunas-VDU coach Mikhail Kovalenko.
Eglė Makauskaitė of Kaunas-VDU was named the best player of the finals of the Teida Lithuanian Women’s Volleyball Championship. Karolina Pravdinskaitė (Kaunas-VDU), Gabija Kasperavičiūtė (Kaunas-VDU), Jekaterina Kovalskaja (Aušrinė-JSC), Daniele Kvedaraitė (Aušrinė-JSC), Emilija Mukaitė (U20 national team), Anastasija Jesipenko (U20 national team), and Karina Najmovič (Kaunas-VDU) made the symbolic list of the best players of the championship.