Põlva Serviti breaks a series of victories of HC Viljandi, SK Tapa celebrates first victory
November 20, 2021
Põlva Serviti provides the first loss to HC Viljandi. ZRHK Tenax Dobele wins in Latvian derby and continues their victory trail. SK Tapa celebrates their first victory in this season.
– SK Latgols Ludza – ZRHK Tenax Dobele 35:43 (18:20)
Andrejs Narņickis, coach of SK Latgols Ludza
“At first it was quite good, after 15 minutes the power disappeared together with the forces. Finally, we made more than 30 goals. We need to work harder on defense.”
Arvis Juzups, manager of ZRHK Tenax Dobele
“It is important that we won and two points are two points, but this was definitely not the best day for our goalkeepers, and we did not play good in defense. Victory is victory, we are happy that our new players got some good playing time, we were able to give some rest to our leaders. Ludza’s team is doing good, they have a new generation coming in and that’s great that they can play in the Baltic League. Tomorrow is a very important game against Ogre, but next week we will have two games in Greece.”
Best scorers:
SK Latgols Ludza – Lipskis 8, Seņkāns 8, Kušners Edijs 6, Malahovs 4, Rancāns E., 3, Strazds 2, Grebeņņikovs 2, Usāns 1, Rozenbergs 1
ZRHK Tenax Dobele – Kreicbergs 7, Miķelsons 5, Šuleiko 5, Politers 5, Plūme 4, Pančenko 4, Tuminskis 4, Krūmiņš 4, Suharevs 2, Ozoliņš 1, Krastiņš 1, Juzups 1
– HC Kehra/Horizon Pulp&Paper – SK Tapa 21:22 (12:9)
Aleksander Oganezov, player of SK Tapa
“We came into the game with a very positive mind-set, but quickly discovered that the tactics proposed by the coaches were not working that well. In addition, we got quite a handful of 2 minutes’ suspensions. This resulted in us trailing by six goals – 10:4. That didn’t stop us from believing and slowly but surely we crawled back to almost a draw. Although we yet again struggled with our scoring coming one on one with the goalkeeper. Luckily in the second half the coaches realized that the 5:1 defence is not an option, therefore we switched to 6:0 and focused our strength to the back players who were causing most trouble. Around 45th minute of the second half I believe we were already leading, got a couple of very important saves from our goalkeeper and I would say on control of the game. Our playmaker Marten Saar was all over the place and fought admirably, resulting in some suspensions, penalties and goals which further gave us the motivation to push to the end. Also some cheering up from the sideliners by some younger audience surely helped. The final minutes were slightly chaotic, but luckily we came out on top.
With this young team we have never beaten our opponent so this meant a lot to the team. Today we also saw some great scoring from Rail Ageni and Marcus Rättel. And especially the defence in the second half that was provided by Vahur Oolup, Mihkel Koppelmann, Ilja Kosmirak and myself.
All in all, a deserved win and surely not our last points in the competition.”
Best scorers:
HC Kehra/Horizon Pulp&Paper – Gumianov 7, Seermann 5, Kreegimaa 4, Normak 2, Liedemann 2, Mamporia 1
SK Tapa – Ageni 7, Rättel 4, Saar 3, Oolup 3, Kosmirak 2, Bereyhnyi 1, Himma 1, Oganeyov 1
– HK Ogre – HC Dragunas Klaipeda 29:41 (11:20)
Andris Molotanovs, coach of HK Ogre
“After a four-week break, we only had two trainings in the gym, we did what we could to prepare for this game. Of course, this break did not help us, nor is the physical condition at the very best level. IIt could be seen that Klaipeda simply ‘ran away’ from us. It seems to me that about 20 goals opponents scored on fast breaks. They played very well in all positions of the game, our defense once again ‘broke through the seams’, but this is a good lesson for us, let’s take the best to the next game, which is already tomorrow. I hope that the team will also take on account not only what happened on the field, but also what we talked after today’s game. We have to prepare for tomorrow and show much better performance in both attack and defense.”
Gintaras Cibulskis, coach of HC Dragunas Klaipeda
“Today we did everything what I asked, everything went as planned. These were two very important points. I am happy for our new players, they got more minutes to play on the field. Our experienced players got some rest and now our mind is on tomorrow’s game.”
Best scorers:
HK Ogre – Haisa 9, Patsykailik 7, Hovratoviäcs 4, Lielais 3, Bauze 2, Čikuts 2, Lazdiņš 2
HC Dragunas Klaipeda – Draksas 7, Simonavicius 5, Butkus 5, Hlushak 4, Lapiniauskas 4, Palskys 4, Bucius 3, Savicius 2, Biknius 2, Plakhotin 2, Mazrimas 2
– VHC Šviesa Vilnius – Raasiku/Mistra 32:31 (16:14)
Best scorers
VHC Šviesa Vilnius – Pleta 10, Ugianskis 6, Sinkevičius 5, Palevičius 4, Švilpa 3, Drabavičius 2, Rasakevičius 1, Bernatavičius 1
Raasiku/Mistra – Naumenko 13, Sokorovich 7, Padjus 3, Kopli 3, Annula 2, Kessküla 2, Varik 1
– Põlva Serviti – HC Viljandi 29:19 (15:9)
Ülljo Pihus, player of Põlva Serviti
“Today we were better team. I guess we were emotionally very present. After disappointing results of last weekend, we wanted to get back on winning ways. Today we succeeded in every part of the game. Our defense was tight and we managed to be very efficient in attack. We were very well prepared and that was key factor of today’s victory. Tomorrow we have to be in similar mental state. We cannot afford to lose anymore points.”
Kristo Voika, coach and player of HC Viljandi
“We knew that first loss will come at some point, but we did not wanted that today. We were emotionless and we played bad in defense, we did not get our fast goals as usual. I think everyone needs to look inside themselves and be better tomorrow. It is how it is, but luckily it is only middle of the season, maybe this first loss will bring us back to the reality, maybe it is good for us and we need to look at it this way. Like I sad tomorrow is a new day and chance to be a better team.”
Best scorers
Põlva Serviti – Sillaste 11, Chezlov 4, Varul 4, Kase 2, Rudissaar 2, Hiiend 2, Uibo 2, Rebane 1, Pihus 1
HC Viljandi – Voika 4, Varik O., 3, Pertelson 3, Varik M., 2, Maasalu 2, Koovit 1, Koks 1, Basarab 1, Lopp MI., 1, Lopp Ma., 1