The wind in Greek volleyball shifted from south to north. It went from Olympiakos’ European title to PAOK’s conquest of the Greek Cup.

In this sudden Provenza the Thessalonians had a strong foremast, Alexander Raptis. The 23-year-old – who is playing in his debut season at Dikefalos – ‘gassed’ the Red and White defense with 28 points in the cup final, taking PAOK by the hand and leading them to the crown.

He was the main protagonist of the game and the MVP of the Kalamata event. In his interview with Sportish, he accepted this title with difficulty. He took a step back and pointed to his teammates, his coach and said, “The whole PAOK team worked like an MVP”.

“A good day for PAOK wasn’t just the final. We had bad days before and now we have good days. This game came after months of effort. We have a lot of goals and we won’t stop at this trophy.”

Of course we are very happy about the win. Although this joy will last for a while as we continue our efforts. That is our task. The celebration lasts a while. We are used to it and have learned to function in it.

Each title has its own sweetness, but – as happens in our lives – the joys last as long as we let them last. In this case, the team needs to stay focused as the next goal is within reach. The championship is on”highlighted Alexandros Raptis with the magic 76% in attack and the three aces.

The title is worthy of Milenkoski’s faith in us

He particularly referred to the loyalty of the legitimate Josko Milenkoski to the players of the doubleheader and pointed out that the cup is a separate chapter from the championship. “I don’t think winning the cup is a message, or at least I don’t have a message to report right now. I can’t think of anything. The title deserves the team and their commitment. The coach’s commitment and the confidence he has shown in us has are worth it.

We can’t say that winning the cup can mean anything for the league because the following games are completely different. For example, we played against Panathinaikos seven times and no two games were the same. Every day is special, just like every game. And derbies – no matter how similar they are, even if the score is the same – are different games and they always have a different approach to us.”

When asked about the greatly improved performance of his team and the fighting spirit he showed in the cup games, he emphasized: “PAOK will never be willing to let go of anything, whether it’s a match or all the balls. We didn’t just see that in the last cup final. This also applies from Monday when training starts again. That’s the character of ours teams.

I liked my team. I liked their teamwork. I think it’s great that we’re all helping to achieve something like what we’ve now achieved by winning the cup. It was something unique, thank them very much and I want to continue with this face in the following games.

Our teamwork brought the result

The team’s Alexandros barely accepted the title of MVP of the finals and a “maybe” greeted his suggestion, although by all appearances his performance was spacey and almost infallible (he only had one mistake).

“I don’t want to say that I’m the Final Four MVP. Let’s say I’m the MVP of the finals, maybe… For example, in the previous game our top player was Dan Dries, tomorrow it will be someone else. Sometimes it’s our coach that makes the difference. I want to congratulate my team because the whole PAOK team acted as MVP. Our teamwork brought the result. You don’t get the Most Valuable Player title anyway unless you have very good teammates to help you.

I also heard a very nice comment saying that volleyball is one of the fairest sports because the best almost always wins and I’m glad we were the best in this final and we want to repeat it. We know it’s not easy. The motto of the team is that the operation starts from Monday to Saturday and we don’t drop a ball.

That’s volleyball and that’s how we will continue to play. There is passion, we want to win. Otherwise we wouldn’t play.

Such titles help psychology, agree. Of course, PAOK has shown that it can handle both wins and losses and we will continue like this“.