Panathinaikos bounce back from heavy loss to win Golden Set and reach #CEVChallengeCupM semis
News
Panathinaikos ATHENS needed a Golden Set to reach the semis of the men’s CEV Volleyball Challenge Cup 2023 after the ‘Greens’ lost the re-match with Orion DOETINCHEM in straight sets (22-25, 23-25, 20-25) in the second leg of the quarterfinals. The all-important Golden Set was needed to determine the eventual winners of this fixture as Panathinaikos had secured a 3-1 away victory last week in the Netherlands. After losing in straight sets, the hosts regrouped to seal a 15-12 win, much to the delight of some 1,000 raucous home fans. Panathinaikos will be trying to reach the final stage of the competition after last year they lost in the semis to Halkbank ANKARA.
Dimitrios Andreopoulos“We have had many important games in the last period. Fernando Hernandez had an injury in the last game of the Greek league, but all our players are important. We knew our opponent had come here to fight and so they did. We showed our character in the Golden Set and made it to the semi-finals for the second year in a row.”
Head coach of Panathinaikos
Jiri Kovar, player of Panathinaikos: “All games are tough in European competitions and today was a good lesson as we must understand that all opponents are strong. The Dutch team was good, but we showed our strength when we needed it most. We showed our character in the Golden Set and with the support of our amazing fans we made it to the semi-finals.”
Stijn Held, player of Orion: “Tonight’s game was a great experience for us, and we will always remember it. We managed to execute as we planned in the first three sets, and I believe we played high-level Volleyball. In the Golden Set, unfortunately, we couldn’t continue with the same rhythm plus the experience of Panathinaikos and the great atmosphere played an important role. The fans were amazing.”
Saskia van Hintum“We believe we played very well. We executed the game plan as we wanted in the first three sets. In the Golden set the experience of the Panathinaikos players and the crowd were an important asset. The delay due to the technical problem before the Golden Set also affected us, but we managed to defeat a strong opponent and lost in the details.”
Head coach of Orion DOETINCHEM