Põlva Serviti, ZRHK Tenax Dobele and HC Viljandi stays perfect

September 25, 2021

After almost three week break Baltic Handball league has come back with 10 games, five of them were played today. After today only three teams are without any lost game – Põlva Serviti (3/0), ZRHK Tenax Dobele (2/0) and HC Viljandi (2/0). Also two teams managed to win first two points in this season – Raasiku/Mistra and HC Kehra.

SK Latgols Ludza – Raasiku/Mistra            23:33 (13:18)
Already on the first half of the game, Raasiku/Mistra secured a safe lead – 13:18. On the second half of the game, in first 10 minutes SK Latgols scored only one goal against Rassiku/Mistra seven goals. It made a big difference in result and SK Latgols couldn’t find the way to change the course of the game. End result 33:23.

Andrejs Narņickis, coach of SK Latgols Ludza
“Today we played bad in the defense. For some players, this was their first game in this season. Also, some players are injured, so you couldn’t help today. At the moment we are missing and there are too many team practices.”

Best scorers:
SK Latgols Ludza – Seņkāns 6, Matvejenko 6, Grebeņņikovs 4, Kušners E., 2, Malahovs 2, Strazds 1, Lipskis 1, Mikijanskis 1
Raasiku/ Mistra – Naumenko 7, Anton 5, Aus 4, Kopli 4, Nerut 3, Kalvet 3, Slastinovski 3, Sokorovich 2, Vare 1, Nikolajev 1

HC Kehra/Horizon Pulp&Paper – Varsa-Stronglasas         27:25 (15:13)
Also HC Kehra/Horizon Pulp&Paper with today’s victory against Varsa Stronglasas got their first two points in this season. The first half ended with a slight advantage of HC Kehra – 15:13. On the second 30 minutes HC Kehra managed to get five goal lead, but only four minutes before the end of the game Varsa – Stronglasas reached a draw (25:25). In last two and a half minutes HC Kehra scored two more goals and won the game – 27:25.

Mart Raudsepp, Coach of KC Kehra
“Today the game was like a roller-coaster, many ups and downs. As I said to the team, we need to hold discipline. In some moments we lost our discipline and there the mistakes came in. Our main task today was to focus on defense and get fast breaks. One thing I said to my team is – that if we play as team and hold discipline we will win this game.”

Best scorers:
HC Kehra/Horizon Pulp&Paper  – Mamporia 7, Guimanov 6, Kreegimaa 4, Normak 3, Seermann 2, Vilks 2, Yankovski 2, Barouski 1
Varsa-Stronglasas – Petrušauskas 7, Buronko 7, Adamkevičius 5, Eidukonis 3, Civinskas 2, Stankevicius 1,

HC Dragunas Klaipeda – Viljandi HC       23:27 (11:12)
In the game Viljandi HC managed to steal two points from last season’s champions. The first period of the game was intense and similar on the score board – 11:12. On the second half of the game Viljandi HC used some chances to score fast and easy goals and took the lead, that also allowed them to win the game – 27:23.

Gintaras Cibulskis, coach of HC Dragunas Klaipeda
“Viljandi HC did not surprise us, they played their game. HC Dragunas surprised me, we played really bad. I am a little bit disappointed, but nothing bad has happened, season is long and we have just started. It is better to lose now as in finals. After the game I said to my team, that it is just one game – that it’s a sport. Tomorrow is a new day, another game. And I hope tomorrow I will have my team back and they are going to play their best handball.”

Kristo Voika, player and coach of Viljandi HC
“When we come here to Klaipeda, we know that it will be very difficult to play here. They are a very strong team in both – defense and offensive. It was a tough game. But today the key to the game was that Klaipeda made some easy mistakes, and we used it and scored “easy” goals in fast – breaks. It saved our game. I can’t be happy about our offensive because we made some stupid mistakes and played not the way I or the coach wanted. Our main task today was- focus on their contra-attacks after our goal – they are always coming with great speed. We managed to take the easy goals away from them. That was the key of our game. After the game, I told the guys that this was the first game in this season when we started well, with clear heads and at one point the result was 5:1. So it was an amazing start. And that we played good in defense as well. The main thing – the end result is positive for us.”

Best scorers:
HC Dragunas Klaipeda – Hlushak 5, Juskenas 5, Palskys 4, Lapiniauskas 2, Butkus 2, Simonavicius 1, Busius 1, Naghavualhosseini 1, Draksas 1, Plakhotin 1
Viljandi HC – Varik 10, Voika 6, Pertelson 3, Lopp M., 2, Lopp M., 2, Koovit 1, Koks 1, Maasalu 1, Basarab 1

ZRHK Tenax Dobele – SK Tapa    34:22 (19:10)
ZRHK Tenax Dobele started the game confidently and successfully, already at the beginning of the game, they took the lead. After the first 30 minutes on the score board – 19:10. On the second half Dobele reached 12 goal difference and kept it that way until the end of game– 34:22.

Arvis Juzups, manager of ZRHK Tenax Dobele
“We won, it is positive. I myself had expected the opponent to be stronger. We didn’t play the best game, but the victory was pretty convincing. Today, the young players were given a chance, but they did not show the best performance. But we can’t relax, tomorrow is a game with HC Viljandi, who won Dragunas today, I think it will be an interesting game. We lost them last year. I hope that the team will be in the mood and will do their best. It is unfortunate that Nils Kreicbergs is injured and it will take time to recover from meniscus surgery, Lībergs cannot help either. But all others are healthy and ready. We have to fight tomorrow.”

Ņikita Pančenko, player of ZRHK Tenax Dobele
“I am back after recovering from an injury, physically I feel good, I have worked with my shoulder, but the technique needs to be recovered. I missed handball a lot, the break was almost a year. Our opponents today are a very young team. Their lineup is young and unexperienced, so it went harder against us. Tomorrow the game will definitely be more difficult, Viljandi is both – young and experienced players who can contribute. HC Viljandi will definitely be more ready to play against us, because we have played against each other several times – they know our weaknesses and strengths, so the game will be fiercer. “

Best scorers:
ZRHK Tenax Dobele – Kurzemnieks 6, Tuminskis 6, Pančenko 5, Miķelsons 4, Politers 3, Ērmanis 3, Arājs 2,Plūme 2, Šuleiko 1, Juzups 1, Pavlenko 1
SK Tapa – Ageni 7, Berezhnyi 5, Trofimov 3, Kosmirak 2, Morgenson 2, Rattel 1, Reinvart 1, Koppelmann 1

Põlva Serviti – Granitas – Karys Kaunas 29:22 (17:12)
Põlva Serviti stays perfect – three games, three wins. Today they started good and did not give any chance to the opponents. They continued as convincingly as they started and won their third victory in three games – 29:22.

Ülljo Pihus, player of Põlva Serviti
“We are in great form at the moment and it gives us all confidence that we can beat every opponent. Today we were really good in defense. We were able to play with quick tempo which gave us some easy goals and early lead. I believe we were in control throughout the game. After the game our coach said that it was a good victory, but now we have to look forward to tomorrow’s game and focus on that.”

Best scorers
Põlva Serviti – Kase 6, Sarapuu 4, Varul 4, Uibo 3, Sillaste 3, Chezlov 3, Pihus 3, Rebane 2, Meiksans 1, Hiiend 1
Granitas – Karys Kaunas – Jovaišis 9, Lazauskas 3, Šarkauskas 3, Feoktistovas 3, Pijus 2, Zeringis 1, Dambrauskas 1