Men’s Volleyball League: Olympiacos back to back champion, 3-2 PAO!

Olympiacos was crowned champion in the Volley League 2023-24 after a sensational match and in the fourth final that took place at “Melina Merkouri” of Rentis. The “red and white” defeated Panathinaikos 3-2 and with a 3-1 victory won the 32nd title in the history of Greek men’s volleyball and at the same time the 14th double in its history.

Panathinaikos did not manage to complete the upset as they found themselves losing 2-0 sets but led the match to the tie break. There, Olympiacos took a 6-1 lead, Panathinaikos equalized and took a 10-9 lead with Petrea’s ace. However, Olympiacos had not said his last word. Stern’s attack and two blocks from Payenk and Stern made the difference as Olympiacos overtook 12-10, kept the lead and with Hidalgo’s ace made it 15-12 and 3-2.

MVP the injured Djuric

It should be noted that Olympiacos was deprived of the services of Dimitris Djurits from the 18-11 of the 2nd set, who suffered a pulled quadriceps muscle and left the game on the sidelines. Dimitris Djuric was named MVP of the Volley League 2023-24 as with his overall performance he took the whole team on himself and led it to win the title. In the 4th final, Stern and Hidalgo made a great appearance.

The Olympiakos players also dedicated the title to Nikos Zoupani who was injured in the final-4 of the Cup. The best phase of the match took place at 18-18 in the 4th set after a defense by the Olympiakos players and immediately after a mindless fan threw an object at the Panathinaikos bench, risking even stopping the match. Nontas Gerothodoros asked for the evacuation of the Olympiakos stand and the match continued.

Referees: Gerothodoros, Vasiliadis. Match Observer: Kalpaktsoglou. Arbitration Observer: A farmer Challenge Referee: You’re lame. Supervisors: Papathanasiou, Hatzivasiliou. Secretariat: Theodoridou.

Fluctuation:

1st set: 8-7, 16-13, 21-16, 25-17
2nd set: 8-4, 16-10, 21-12, 25-19
3rd set: 6-8, 11-16, 18-21, 20-25
4th set: 6-8, 16-15, 20-21, 21-25
5th set: 5-1, 9-10, 12-10, 15-12

* Olympiakos’ points came from 5 aces, 52 attacks (48% efficiency), 9 blocks and 40 opponent errors (25 lost serves) and Panathinaikos’ points came from 7 aces, 49 attacks (42% efficiency), 6 blocks and 36 errors opponents (23 lost serves).

The sets: 25-17, 25-19, 20-25, 21-25, 15-12.

OLYMPIACOS S.F.P. (Daniel Castellani): Pagenk 8 (6/16 ff., 2 blocks), Stern 25 (21/40 ff., 2 aces, 2 blocks), Koumentakis 10 (7/14 ff., 1 ace, 2 blocks, 35% ff. – 35 % excellent), Travisa 1 (1/4 ref.), Djuric 6 (4/4 ref., 2 blocks), Hidalgo 14 (12/28 ref., 2 aces, 42% sub. – 38% excellent) / Giavras (l, 25% sub. – 15% excellent), Vaiopoulos 2 (1/2 floor, 1 block), Komitoudis, Dalakouras.

PANATHINAIKOS A.O. (Dimitris Andreopoulos): Kasampalis, Kovar 2 (2/8 ref., 80% sub. – 70% excellent), Rangel 2 (2/5 ref.), Hernandez 20 (17/43 ref., 3 aces), Voulkidis 9 (6/10 ref., 3 blocks), Protopsaltis 11 (9/24 ref., 2 blocks, 38% sub. – 33% excellent) / Zisis (l, 56% sub. – 48% excellent), Kostopoulos (l), Petreas 8 (3/4 ff., 4 aces, 1 block), Markou, Frankos 10 (10/23 ff., 56% sub. – 50% excellent), Kern.