PAOK – Olympiakos 2-3: Big doubles for the red-whites, they have the home field advantage

In a match full of upheaval, Olympiacos edged PAOK 3-2 in a set despite falling 2-1 behind and breaking through Dikefalos headquarters.

The red and white are just one win away from qualifying Women’s Volley League finals as the semi-final series will be decided by the two wins.

The match: In the first set, Olympiacos took the lead very quickly (1-3, 2-6), with the gap increasing (6-11, 8-15) as PAOK, who didn’t have a good reception, also had problems in attack. On the contrary, the red and white took the change with ease and the 0:1 came relatively comfortably.

The second set was more balanced early on but went from 7-7 to 10-7 with an ace by Caffrey for Olympiacos to react quickly to level it at 11-11 but at 13-13 the black and white with individual Score 7-1 led by 20-14. The red-white team with Tsitsigiannis and Christodoulou in the top six reduced to 22:19 and came up with a new counterattack from Tsitsigiannis to 23:21, but a Mertekis attack and a block from Krol brought it to 25:21.

There was a great fight in the third set as well, with the two teams taking turns taking the lead (3-2, 3-5, 9-8) and Olympiakos grabbing a difference after 12-12 to reach +3 (16-19). , with Caffrey missing . After Feolio’s time-out, Blanco took over and Iliopoulou served to surprise (20-19) and Krol’s block in Salas gave PAOK a 22-20 lead. There, Micelli’s time-out caused excitement as Salas leveled the game with an ace (22-22) but that was the final red-white point as Kroll gave her team the lead again and Caffrey closed the set with an attack and a block .

Relative balance prevailed in the fourth set up 13-14, Olympiakos always had the lead and at that point came away holding pressure 13-17 without PAOK ever being able to react and the match being settled in a tie-break.

The red-whites, on the other hand, converted the 3:3 at the beginning of the tie-break into a 3:6 with their serve as a weapon, and a little later Winters sent the difference to +4 (4:8). Olympiacos reached 6-10, but with two blocks from Krol, Blanco, PAOK, the Red-Whites reduced to 9-10 to go back to +3 (9-12) and with a block from Emmanuilidou they reached the match bowl. The first was lost with Sala’s attack, but Kouvani finished off the next attack, giving Olympiacos the win and the lead to qualify for the finals of the championship.

PAOK – Olympiacos 2-3

The sentences: 18-25, 25-21, 25-22, 16-25, 11-15

*PAOK’s points come from 4 aces, 61 attacks, 14 blocks and 16 errors and Olympiacos’ points come from 8 aces, 63 attacks, 13 blocks and 24 errors.

PAOK (Marco Fenolio): Polinopoulou 6 (Ref. 3/14, 3 blocks), Krol 23 (Ref. 17/55, 6 blocks), Strandzali 3 (Ref. 2/12, 1 block, 13% sub.-13% excellent), Vergidou, Caffrey 25 (19/43ff, 3 aces, 3 blocks, 43% sub-43% excellent), Blanco 10 (9/18ff, 2 blocks) / Xanthopoulou (l, 60% sub-48% excellent ), Papadopoulou (l), Iliopoulou 2 (1/3 ff., 1 ace), Merteki 10 (10/36 ff., 42% sub.-34% excellent), Armoutsi.

OLYMPIACOS SFP (Lorenzo Micelli): Emmanuilidou 17 (10/18ff, 1 ace, 6 blocks), Winters 10 (10/34ff, 29% sub-29% excellent), Lambrousi 9 (2/7ff, 3 aces, 4 blocks) , Koumboura 18 (17/47 ref., 1 block), Carraro 3 (1/1 ref., 1 ace, 1 block), Salas 24 (20/55 ref., 3 aces, 1 block, 48% ref.- 24% excellent) / Kosmas (l, 32% sub.-20% excellent), Antonakaki (l), Tsitsigianni 2 (2/6 ff.), Genitsaridis Zafiriou, Christodoulou 1 (1/2 ff.).

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