Two sets away from qualifying for his round of 16 Panathinaikos, Olympiacos and PAOK are in the Challenge Cup after their first games against Ontolena, Komarno and Montana respectively.

The Greens confirmed their superiority over the Czechs and easily won 3-0 sets (25-19, 25-14, 25-19) at the closure of Agios Thomas.

With pluralism in attack and serving on a good day, Andreopoulos’ players had no problem claiming victory.

PANATHINAIKOS AO (Dimitris Andreopoulos): Kovar 9 (7/21 ref, 1 ace, 1 block, 60% under – 40% excellent), Petraeus 8 (2/6 ref, 3 aces, 3 blocks), Jacobsen 1 (1 block), Rangel 6 ( 4/5 ref., 2 blocks), Frankos 7 (7/12 ref., 60% sub – 30% excellent), Hernandez 18 (16/25 fr., 2 aces) / Grumousas (l, 41% sub. – 18% excellent), base.

Stern and Hidalgo again made the difference

Olympiacos in Slovakia laid a clear foundation for qualification with a 3-1 win over Komarno in a set. As the game progressed, the third set was crucial.

The Red-Whites took the first, the Slovaks answered and in the third set the two teams dueled, with Giuliani’s players winning 24-26.

The protagonist for Olympiakos was Stern with 20 points, followed by Hidalgo with 14 and Linardos and Pagenk with 10 each.

Olympiacos (Alberto Giuliani): Page 10 (8/15 ff., 2 blocks), star 20 (15/28 ff., 3 aces, 2 blocks), Koumentakis 5 (3/10 ff., 1 ace, 1 block, 43% ff. – 29 % excellent), Travitsa, Linardos 10 (5/11 ff., 1 ace, 4 blocks), Hidalgo 14 (13/28 ff., 1 ace, 76% sub. – 61% excellent) / Tziavras (min., 50 % sub. – 21% excellent), Dalakouras 5 (4/7 ff., 1 block, 67% sub. – 56% excellent), Chandrinos, Papagelopoulos

PAOK easily with Dan Dries and Raptis

PAOK also had an easy afternoon and easily won 3:0 sets (25-19, 25-15, 25-16) from Montana at the PAOK Sports Arena.

Dan Dries and Raptis were the ones who took the helm in attack with 17 and 11 points respectively, while Dikephalos had a good day with both his serve and block.

PAOK (Milenkoski): Mouchlias 2 (2/2 Ref, 50% Sub-50% Excellent), Costa 5 (3/4 Ref, 1 Ace, 1 Block), Walls 2 (1 Ace, 1 Block), Kokkinakis (L, 80 % sub.-80% excellent), Voulkidis 9 (7/12 continuation, 2 aces), Sotiriou 8 (7/12 continuation, 1 block, 62% continuation-43% excellent), Raptis 11 (9/18 ref., 2 aces, 77% sub-38% excellent), Van Den Dries 17 (14/24 ref, 3 blocks).