Outsiders Apollon put up fight but end up on losing end of clash with ZOK UB

Apollon LIMASSOL fought incredibly hard in front of some 450 fans but eventually ended up losing 2-3 (25-17, 22-25, 19-25, 25-22, 15-17) their second matchup with ZOK UB of Serbia scheduled for the 32^nd Finals of the women’s CEV Challenge Cup 2023.

As they had claimed a 3-0 victory on home soil, ZOK UB needed to take two sets from the re-match to progress to the next round of the competition. Despite trailing 6-10 in the opening set, Apollon LIMASSOL slowly but surely found their way into the match and eventually edged ahead at 14-13. The ‘Blue Girls’ claimed the first set 25-17 with the help of Alyssa Enneking and Natalie-Panayiota Stylianou.  

Apollon set the pace of the game also in the early stages of the second set (5-2) but ZOK UB turned the tables around to lead 10-7. The visitors extended their advantage to 16-11 before Apollon LIMASSOL came back and cut their deficit to one point only at 16-17 on a run propelled by Jessica Ventura and Effrosyni Alexakou. After a very close fight, however, ZOK UB won the set 25-22 to make it one step closer to reaching the next round.  

Such a close affair continued in the third set – where ZOK UB claimed an early lead (5-3, 9-6) and eventually widened it to six points at 15-9. Ventura and Enneking continued to put up a fight for Apollon with their spikes, but LIMASSOL eventually lost the set 19-25 – and with it any chances of reaching the 16^th Finals were gone.  

Even though nothing more was at stake, Apollon did not give in and came from behind to win the fourth set 25-22. The tiebreak that ensued was another close call – with Apollon failing to cash a match point at 14-13 before ZOK UB prevailed 17-15 to seal a 3-2 victory.