Greek teams claim comprehensive wins in #CEVChallengeCupM
News
Two Greek clubs with a long and rich history in the European Cups – PAOK THESSALONIKI and Panathinaikos ATHENS – have set their sights on reaching the 8th Finals of the men’s CEV Challenge Cup following comprehensive home victories in their respective 16th Final home matches on Wednesday night.
PAOK made easy work of Bulgaria’s MONTANA Volley as they powered to a 3-0 victory (25-19, 25-15, 25-16). Even though they were missing their Dutch outside hitter, Gijs Jorna, PAOK showed good reception and attack – and looked dominant especially in the second and third sets. Their Belgian-born opposite Bram Van den Dries top scored with 17 points – followed by Greek outside hitter Alexandros Raptis on 11 – as MONTANA showed obvious problems in reception.
Over to Athens, Panathinaikos were just as impressive in their home match with Aero ODOLENA VODA of the Czech Republic, recording a 3-0 victory (25-19, 25-14, 25-19) as well in front of some 650 fans.
Marcin Krys, head coach of Aero ODOLENA VODA: “We have been trying hard to put up a fight, but we did not quite succeed in doing so. We had many problems in reception and could not find our rhythm. We need to play much better if we want to face Panathinaikos with a chance at causing a surprise. We need to improve in the areas where we were not that good today. The atmosphere was fantastic, but that should not have prevented us from playing our game.”
Marek Sulc, player of Aero ODOLENA VODA: “Panathinaikos is a very strong team and they played very well, but we did not play as good as we can. We will try in the second leg to play better. Regarding the atmosphere, it was awesome, we all knew very well that Panathinaikos has many raucous supporters. We experienced it here tonight too. From here on, our mind is on the second game and what we can take from there.”
Jiri Kovar“We knew we had to play well to beat our opponent. I think we did so, apart from the beginning of the third set. We are happy about the result and the victory. Everyone’s attention goes now to the national league match with Foinikas SYROS and then we will focus again on the next match with ODOLENA VODA. Our fans were once again awesome and supported us warmly and we thank them.”
Player of Panathinaikos
Dimitrios Andreopoulos, head coach of Panathinaikos: “Today we claimed this victory easier than we expected. We pressured our opponent from time to time with our serve, while our block also worked on many occasions. With these assets, the victory came more easily. Things will be very difficult in the return leg, and we know there are no easy matches in Europe. The home advantage is very big and plays a big role, it is one thing to play at home and another to play away from home. Today we had a lot of good things in our game and kept the opponent at bay, who however remains a very good team.”
Elsewhere, it was a volleyball fiesta for the club and the city of Komárno in Slovakia because local fans had never seen an opponent of a high calibre such as Olympiacos PIRAEUS in their hometown. The home team played bravely and after losing the opening set, they stormed back emphatically to level the match. They even edged ahead towards the end of the third set (24-23), but their experienced opponents took advantage of the situation and turned the set around and eventually won the match. Still, the fully packed sports hall thanked both teams for a great show and Rieker UJS KOMÁRNO will travel next week to Greece to try to cause a sensation.