AEK’s series against Panathinaikos for the Women’s Volleyball League semi-final series began with a break. The Greens won the Union set 3-1 and made it 1-0.

After this development, Panathinaikos needs one more win to qualify for the final as the semifinals will be decided by the two wins. If AEK also breaks, the final qualifier will be decided in a third game again in New Philadelphia.

The match: Panathinaikos started the match impressively and took an early lead in the first set, with Medits and Anthoulis causing a lot of problems in attack and blocking. The Greens went from 7-10 to 7-15 and despite AEK’s substitution with Calderon taking Vlahaki’s place on the flanks, the visitors won the first set 11-25.

In the second set, AEK countered and after Panathinaikos made it 5-7, Union continued a 5-0 run to make it 9-7, having four blocks in that span (2 from Kalandatze, 1 each from Silva and Konstantinidou). 12-10 became 19-10, a little later it was a 1-1 draw with 25-14.

The third set was a copy of the first, with Panathinaikos opening a safety margin (2-6, 3-7) to go into doubles after an ace from Medić that made it 6-17. Anae’s attack made it 1:2 in favor of the Greens at 15:25.

Derby was the fourth set, with Panathinaikos consistently four points clear (11-15, 13-17, 16-20) and AEK responding with two consecutive blocks from Kulikova that brought the set to a point (19-20). Papafotiou sent the team wide with a clever pass to 19:21, Anae counterattacked to give Panathinaikos another three points advantage (19:22), while Papafotiou again won the point to 19:23. Silva scored at 19-24 in the next stage, Kulikova reduced to 20-24, but Anae made the final 20-25 for the 1-3 set in the final.

AEK – Panathinaikos 1-3

The sentences: 11-25, 25-14, 15-25, 20-25

*The points of AEK They came from 3 aces, 41 attacks, 10 blocks and 17 opponent errors and Panathinaikos from 6 aces, 48 ​​attacks, 15 blocks and 20 opponent errors.

AEK (Yunus Ocal): Nizetich 12 (11/35 Ref, 1 Ace, 62% Sub – 38% Excellent), Kalandatze 4 (1/5 Fr, 3 Blocks), Vlahaki 1 (1/3 Fr, 29% Sub – 29 % excellent), Konstantinidou 4 (2/2 ref, 2 blocks), Silva 16 (12/38 ref, 2 aces, 2 blocks), Kulikova 7 (4/6 ref, 3 blocks) / Artakianou (L, 64% sub. – 33% excellent), Xintara, Calderon 10 (10/20 ff., 22% sub. – 11% excellent), Xanthopoulou.

PANATHINAIKOS AO (Yiannis Kalmazidis): Anae 15 (10/26 ff., 4 aces, 1 block, 72% sub. – 32% excellent), Grotous 11 (10/18 ff., 1 block, 64% sub. – 50% excellent, Papafotiou 5 (3 /4 ref, 2 blocks), Anthoulis 21 (18/35 ref, 3 blocks), Cross 7 (3/6 ref, 4 blocks), Medic 6 (2/7 ref, 2 aces, 2 blocks) / Roga (l, 50% sub. – 27% excellent), Hatzieustratiadou 2 (1/3 ff., 1 block), Nikologianni 2 (1/3 ff., 1 block), Metaxas, Merkouri.

The schedule of the semifinals

First game – Wednesday 19 April 2023

• PAOK – Olympiacos SFP 2-3
• AEK – Panathinaikos AO 1-3

Game Two – Saturday 22 April 2023

• Gym “Melina Merkouri”, 19.00: Olympiacos SFP – PAOK
• Saint Thomas High School, 9:00 p.m.: Panathinaikos AO -AEK

Third game (if required) – Wednesday 26 April 2023

• Gym “Apostolos Kontos”, 5.30 p.m.: AEK – Panathinaikos AO
• PAOK Sports Arena, 7:00 p.m.: PAOK – Olympiakos SFP