Olympiacos took the “Melina Mercouri” thriller 3-2 sets, beat Panathinaikos for the third time in the men’s Volleyball League finals series and won the title for the 32nd time in its history, completing the magical season with a double.
Olympiacos is back to back champion of Greece, doing the double at the same time. The “red and white” prevailed with a 3-2 set against Panathinaikos in the “Melina Merkouri” thriller and won the men’s Volley League title for the 32nd time.
The Piraeus team did not give in to the “green” counterattack, coped with the loss of Dimitris Djuric and in the tie break they managed to win the championship set which brought them back to the top of domestic volleyball.
The match
THE Panathinaikos entered the fourth final more strongly and took an early 4-2 lead, with Olympiakos getting off to a sluggish start and finding their first three points from missed serves by the visitors.
Then the “red and white” found their footing, Raphael Koumendakis with two personal points put Piraeus in front (9-7), while as time went on Olympic he looked increasingly read in his reception in relation to the third final in the Mets’ closed.
The first ace of the match came from Hernandez, who cut the gap to two (14-12), as did Petraeus with the second ace (17-15).
This was also the last time Clover claimed the set, after Hidalgo got to work and together with Djuric they ended the first set in summary proceedings.
A key point at the start of the fourth final was the 12-6 points from opponents’ mistakes and the 2-0 blocks, despite the 0-2 aces, the only statistic in which Panathinaikos prevailed.
THE Olympic entered the second set with acquired speed, took an early lead, with Tonsek Stern, Dimitris Dzuric (4/4 attacks) and the first ace of Raphael Koumendakis.
After Djuric’s hamstring injury that put him out of the final, the rest of Piraeus’ scorers made the required step up in their performance and shot the difference up to +9 (20-11).
The relaxation of Castellani’s players allowed the Panathinaikos to enter the match again (23-17), with the Italian calling time out and Stern, as in the first set, successfully ending the attack for the home team’s 25-19 lead.
In the third set, the balance changed, the “greens” entered with their backs against the wall and knowing that they have no other chance, consequently they took advantage of Djuric’s absence and took a 4-7 lead.
Olympiacos responded by falling to within 8-9 points, with Panathinaikos then going on a 5-0 run to turn 10-11 into 11-16.
At this point Thanasis Protopsaltis scored four of his eight points in the game. The players of Dimitris Andreopoulos resisted the counterattack attempted by the “red and white” (16-18, 17-19), ultimately reducing to a 2-1 set (20-25).
Olympiacos reacted immediately to the pressure exerted by Panathinaikos, took a 6-2 lead at the start of the fourth set and looked like it would lay the foundations for an easy victory and its crowning as champion for the second consecutive year.
However, the mistakes of the “red and white” in the attack and Hernandez’s ace gave Panathinaikos the lead with two points for the first time (11-13).
Olympiacos then responded with a 4-0 run to the “green” counterattack and with two aces by Tonsek Stern took the lead again with 16-12.
Panathinaikos, however, turned the situation in their favor once again, starting with Petraeus’ ace for 16-17 and with an offensive crescendo made it 2-2.
In the tie break, Olympiacos entered decisively to finish the job and be crowned champion, they took the lead in the score with 6-1 and 7-2, Trifylli managed to tie the game at 10-10 with a long counterattack, however Stern and Hidalgo came forward and I gave rise to wild celebrations (15-12).
The sets: 25-17, 25-19, 20-25, 20-25, 12-15
*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).
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.
Referees: Gerothodoros, Vasiliadis, Match Observer: Kalpaktsoglou, Arbitration Observer: A farmer Challenge Referee: Koutsoulas, Supervisors: Papathanasiou, Hatzivasiliou, Secretariat: Theodoridou.
