Milonas left the case of qualifying for the next stage of the Challenge Cup open after suffering a 3-2 set defeat by Israel’s Hapoel Mate in his first historic game in European competition.

To continue the competition, Nea Smyrni’s team must win the replay on Thursday October 20th with a clean score (3-0 or 3-1) to qualify directly, while in case of a 3 – 2 sets win they must also win the gold set. A defeat with any score leads to disqualification.

The start was ideal for Milos and with his enthusiasm… as a rookie in Europe he easily took the 1-0 (25:17) set but in the second the Israelis reacted and equalized just as easily to make it 1-1 ( 18-25).

With the Yordanovs, Molina and Milonas in the lead, Milonas took the lead in the third set and took the lead for the second time in the game (25-16) but Hapoel hadn’t had her last word.

Under the pressure of the serve, the Israelis easily made it 2:2 (14:25) and in the tiebreak after 4:5 they escaped by the score (5:10), Milonas couldn’t equalize the set and the game ended 8-15 .

Fluctuation:

• 1st set: 8-5, 16-10, 21-14, 25-17
• 2nd set: 4-8, 11-16, 15-21, 18-25
• 3rd set: 8-4, 16-10, 21-15, 25-16
• 4th set: 3-8, 9-16, 11-21, 14-25
• 5th set: 4-5, 5-10, 6-12, 8-15

*Milon’s points come from 5 aces, 51 attacks, 5 blocks and 29 errors and Hapoel Mate’s 11 aces, 50 attacks, 7 blocks and 30 errors.

Sets: 2-3 (25-17, 18-25, 25-16, 14-25, 08-15) in 103′

AONS MILON (Sakis Psarras): Bryan 10 (8/12 ff., 2 blocks), Andreadis 6 (6/11 ff.), Yordanov 20 (20/32 ff.), Molina 9 (7/21 ff., 2 blocks, 46% ff. – 31% excellent), Efraimidis 9 (7/21 ref, 2 blocks, 46% sub – 31% excellent), Cher 5 (1/1 ref, 3 aces, 1 block) / Chandrinos (l, 79% sub. – 59% excellent), Theodosis 1 (1/1 ff.), Dimitoulis, Nanopoulos 2 (1/3 ff., 1 ace), Stratos.

HAPOEL MATE (Noam Katz): Osokin 7 (Ref. 4/9, 3 Blocks), Khaver 15 (Ref. 14/23, 1 Ace, 63% Sub – 37% Excellent), Banov 16 (Ref. 10/25, 6 Aces), Ustinov 15 (13/23 ref, 2 aces, 38% ref – 15% excellent), Khazan, Stankov 6 (4/6 ref, 1 ace, 1 block) / Roitman (l, 46% ref – 38% excellent), subscription, pin 9 (5/9 ff., 1 ace, 3 blocks).