The trophy in men’s volleyball landed in the hands of PAOK players. The biceps clearly prevailed 3:0 against Finikas and achieved the conquest of the cup.

Certainly no Kalmazidis player was behind, but the one who received the title of MVP was Rafael Koumentakis. The PAOK winger was excellent and caused a lot of problems for Finikas, especially with his performances.

On the opposite bank, Finikas might have played with Dimitris Dzouric, but he had a lot of reception problems and, with the exception of the second set, he didn’t play as he showed us.

The Match: PAOK went into the final strong with performances from Koumentakis from the start, extending a six-point (3-9) lead.

Finikas reacted and brought the set to 14-14, but PAOK had the solutions again. Kalmazidis’ players escaped the scoreline and went on to take the set by a score of 25-18.

In the second set, the start was inversely proportional. Finikas with Frango served terribly with the result that the Syrians led 5-0. PAOK’s reaction came gradually and Dikefalos first managed to close the gap and then overtake at 15-16.

From there we watched a dramatic set. PAOK finished first in a set of bowls 24-23, but Stern erased it. Finikas’ extreme with an ace put the Syrians ahead and then we had a period that proved the usefulness of the video challenge. Initially the referees gave a tackle on Barnes’ attack which would mean 1-1 in the sets but Kalmazidis asked for a phase check which showed there was contact with the block.

So we continued at 26-26 in the set until we reached 33-31, with the winner of the duel being PAOK.

With psychology rising, Kalmazidis’ players stepped in with their foot pressed on the accelerator, moving into the third set and leading again 5-0, with Koumentakis dealing the damage from serve position.

This time, Finikas’ players couldn’t get the set continuation, with the result that PAOK took it 25-19 and won the cup by 3-0 sets.

Finikas – PAOK 0-3

The sentences: 18-25, 31-33, 19-25

* Finikas Syros ONEX’s points came from opponents’ 4 aces, 40 attacks, 7 blocks and 17 errors and PAOK’s came from opponents’ 10 aces, 45 attacks, 8 blocks and 20 errors,

AO FINIKAS SYROU ONEX (Josko Milenkoski): Michalovic 16 (13/26 run, 3 blocks), Jerusalem 2 (2/4 run), Costa 6 (5/9 run, 1 ace), Juric 6 (3/5 run, 3 blocks), Frangos 12 (10/ 19ff, 2 aces, 38% mins – 19% excellent), Star 8 (6/16ff, 1 ace, 1 block, 29% mins – 10% excellent) / Karasavvidis (l, 43% sub – 14% excellent), Konstantinidis (l, 29% sub – 14% excellent), Papagelopoulos, Tzioumakas 1 (1/2 ff.), Papadopoulos (17% sub – 0% excellent).

PAOK (Yiannis Kalmazidis): Brown 5 (2/3 run, 1 ace, 2 blocks), Petreas 8 (5/7 run, 3 aces), Walsh 2 (1/2 run, 1 block), Koumentakis 12 (6/14 run . ., 5 aces, 1 block, 70% sub – 40% excellent), Barnes 13 (10/23ff., 1 ace, 2 blocks, 21% ff – 21% excellent), Udris 23 (21/31ff., 2 blocks) / Kokkinakis (λ, 60% typ. – 40% excellent), Gatsis.

The panorama of Final-4

Thursday March 31st

• First semi-final: Pegasus Polichnis – AO Finikas Syros ONEX 2-3
• Second semi-final: PAOK – Olympiakos SFP 3-2

Friday April 1st

• Final: Finikas Syros ONEX – PAOK 0-3