Volleyball
Kalmazidis’ Panathinaikos bows to Papafotiou and game-changer Hatziefstratiadou
Kostas Holidis for signing Yiannis Kalmazidis to bring the Panathinaikos championship, the bow Athena Papafotiou deserves from all of us and the central presence of Hatziefstratiadou in the third final with Olympiakos.
The Women’s Volley League championship ended with a final few would have expected 1-2 months ago. Panathinaikos and Olympiacos faced each other in the final, with the green teams playing back-to-back.
The picture shared by PAOK and AEK for most of the year showed that the two would be fighting for the championship, but two exceptional coaches made the difference.
Giannis Kalmazidis and Lorenzo Miceli completely changed the image of their teams and offered three big matches in the Volley League final.
The way of Kalmazidis
We will first refer to the winner, Giannis Kalmazidis has completely changed the image of Panathinaikos by the way he has proved himself on the teams’ benches all these years.
With hard work, “Kalma” managed to form a team that had many problems and ups and downs in its performance in the first half of the year.
Clover worked on his weaknesses, camouflaged some others, and clinched the title at the end of the season.
A title that, compared to the previous year, was associated with a significantly lower bank depth and with some mistakes on the part of the foreign athletes.
That’s how Yiannis Kalmazidis managed to make history after becoming the first coach to win both the men’s and women’s championships.
Bowing to Papafotiou
We leave it to Yannis Kalmazidis to take care of the finals’ most valuable player on and off the pitch.
The reason, of course, is Athena Papafotiou. We don’t need to say much about her great class, she has proven that over the years in the top leagues abroad.
She’s the league’s best passer and has often been the one to pull aces up her sleeve to change the flow of a set or match.
This at a competitive level. Athina Papafotiou deserves a deep bow from the sports enthusiasts. What he said after both the first final (regardless of whether some took it up and down) and the third shows how he thinks.
On the one hand, Athina Papafotiou mentioned the obvious that it is not possible to light smoke generators indoors, on the other hand, she stressed that it was finally necessary to find stadiums worthy of the athletes participating in the Greek championship.
The game changer Hatziefstratiadou
To get to the final, where we saw a great game between the two teams that gave their all, we have to focus on Irini Chatziefstratiadou.
The Greek center stepped up midway through the third set and changed the face of the match while serving to effectively clear the tiebreak. Her stats counted 11 points on 7/11 attacks, an ace and three blocks. However, there were many balls that she broke and at the same time she put pressure on the opposing reception with her serve many times.
Her entry changed the balance on the net where Olympiacos dominated, with the duo of Emmanouilidou and Lambrousis delivering a great match.
the next day
Both Panathinaikos and Olympiacos have already started planning for the new season and announcements are expected shortly.
The Greens will change all the foreign gymnasts in their roster, they will be filled with depth while, as everything shows, the trio of Papafotiou, Roga and Hatziefstratiadou will remain.
On the other hand, Olympiacos will change at half, they will take over Nizetich from AEK while Artakianou can go the same way.
The coming period is expected with special interest in transfers.
Source: sport 24
Alberta Robinson is a sports journalist and author, who is currently associated with the publication Sportish, where she writes about sports related news and events. With a passion for sports and a keen eye for detail, Robinson brings in-depth analysis and insightful commentary to her writing.