PAOK painted the derby with Panathinaikos in black and white at the inaugural Women’s Volleyball League, winning 3-1 in Thessaloniki.

Marco Feolio’s team started the match strong, winning the first set 25-19. Panathinaikos responded in the second set and won easily 25-16.

The last two sets were the decisive ones of the match, in which the Black and Whites prevailed in detail, especially in the third set, which they won 34:32 and 2:1. In the fourth (and final) set, PAOK won again by two points (25-23) to take the three points.

The match:

In the first set, Panathinaikos took the lead from the start (0-2) and with problems in attack PAOK started to widen the difference (3-7) and 8-11 became 8-14 with Anae’s block and out of Krol and Blanco. Feolio called a time-out, but Panathinaikos was in absolute control until 12-16. There PAOK made the change and ran a 7:0 run (19:16) with Blanco on serve and achieved a comfortable 25:19 with an overall individual result of 13:3.

The second set started on the same pattern (0-3 PAO, 3-3 PAOK) with the Greens escaping 6-10 and the Blacks and Whites reducing to 9-10 and even counterattacking to equalize, Krol did didn’t benefit when Grothes broke out and went 9-13 with consecutive points, while it all ended when Hatziefstratiadou went to serve. 12-16 became 12-20 and Panathinaikos made the 1-1 very easy.

Panathinaikos continued the same pace in the third set where a quick 1-4 might have turned into a 6-6 but with two attacks the Greens escaped again at 6-8 with no reaction from PAOK who saw the difference grow (7- 10, 8-12, 12-17). The Greens hit a four bowl set (20-24), even had a counterattack that Anae failed to succeed and responded to PAOK with a 5-0 run that went 25-24 (23-24 from Grothes, 24- 24 Blanco block, 25- 24 Anthoulis out).

The thrill had only just begun as the two teams traded at the top and after Panathinaikos missed another chance to end the set (at 30-31, Xanthopoulou made a great defense against Grothes), PAOK pulled it off with 31- 32 to 34-32 with attacks from Krol and Strantzali and an out from Grothes.

The fourth set also developed into a thriller in which both teams were close (4:2, 6:6) and PAOK made 15:16 18:16 (Cafri block on Grothes). PAO immediately responded by equalizing Anae, however PAOK escaped again 21-18 but at 22-19 it became 22-21 and Krol was red carded for protest. At 24-22, PAOK lost a counterattack with Keifri (Medits block), with PAO failing to counterattack in the next phase (although the defense came out) and Strandzali ended the game by giving Dikephalos the three point.

The sentences: 25-19, 16-25, 34-32, 25-23

PAOK (Marco Fenolio): Polinopoulou 3 (3/5 ref.), Krol 20 (16/41 ref., 1 ace, 3 blocks), Strandzali 21 (20/43 ref., 1 block, 30% sub.-09% excellent), Vergidou 1 (1/2 f.), Keifri 19 (16/36 f., 3 blocks, 52% sub.-45% excellent), Blanco 15 (9/13 f., 2 aces, 4 blocks) / Xanthopoulou (l, 54% sub.-46% excellent), Papadopoulou (l), Iliopoulou 1 (1/1 ff.), Klepkou, Tsioga (0/1 ff.).

Panathinaikos (Branko gaits): Hatziefstratiadou 10 (6/16 ref., 2 aces, 2 blocks), Anae 24 (21/37 ref., 3 blocks, 54% sub.-39% excellent), Grothes 9 (9/33ff., 64% sub .-36% excellent), Papafotiou 4 (1/4 ref, 2 aces, 1 block), Anthoulis 17 (16/42 ref, 1 ace), Medic 10 (5/10 ref, 1 ace, 4 blocks ). ) / Roga (l, 71% sub.-52% excellent), Politis (l), Nikologianni (0/1 ff.), Metaxas.