PAOK power past Olympiacos, Foinikas to seal fourth Greek Cup title
News
PAOK THESSALONIKI triumphed with the title at the Final Four of the men’s Greek Cup after delivering a couple of brilliant performances to pick up their third title in a row - and fourth overall - following a sweep of Foinikas SYROS (3-0; 25-18, 33-31, 25-19) in the final, Friday night, at the Athens suburb of Glyfada.
Very much supported by the eventual MVP of the game Rafail Koumentakis, who served five aces and helped his side’s reception as well, plus top scorer of the match Artur Udrys of Belarus (23 points, including an impressive 21/31 for 63% in attack), PAOK were just dominant after fending off three set points in the second as Foinikas were trying to draw level.
It took PAOK six set points of their own to move two sets up, but it was rather plain sailing after that with dominant serving and a highly more efficient attack.
For Koumentakis it was his second Cup Final MVP award. The 28-year-old was the recipient of the very same prize also in 2018, when PAOK beat cross-town rivals Iraklis 3-0.
PAOK had previously triumphed in the national cup finals of 2015 (3-1 over Olympiacos PIRAEUS), 2018 and 2019 (3-1 over Iraklis).
However, they are still short of matching the all-time record of Olympiacos who have picked up as many as 16 titles. Panathinaikos ATHENS and Iraklis have collected six each since the first edition held in 1981.
The competition concluded for the first time in three years, after the 2020 and 2021 editions were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Foinikas struggled also the previous night to beat surprise semi-finalists Pigasos Polichne of Greece’s second-tier Pre-League Division.
The Syros side rallied from a set down to take the match 3-2 (19-25, 25-18, 25-20, 21-25, 15-10) and qualify to the final - but only after a spectacular 8-1 run led by opposite Peter Michalovic of Slovakia to win the fifth set after coming back from 7-9 down.
PAOK also went to five sets against Olympiacos in the other semi-final for a 3-2 (25-19, 22-25, 25-22, 17-25, 15-10) win on the back of 19 points by Udrys and another 16 by Koumentakis.
