A big victory, which can be decisive in the fight for qualification, was achieved by the men’s national volleyball team, which beat Portugal 3-2 sets.

The Portuguese took a 2-0 sets lead, but Bonifande’s players managed to turn the tide and drive to victory.

Koumendakis’ involvement helped change the national team’s image, while Petreas and Mouchlias played a great game.

The match: After the initial 4:3, Greece conceded a run from Portugal and after a counterattack took the lead 4:7. With a score of 12:16, our national team was reduced to one point against Alexandros Raptis and thus forced Portugal to be eliminated for the first time.

Dante Bonifande’s players continued to press from the service line and Giorgos Petraas’ ace (preceded by a block from the captain) gave us a 21-20 lead. Portugal stopped Dimitris Djuric in a first attack with 22:23, reached the bowl set (22:24) and after two passes that Thanasis Protopsaltis didn’t finish, Portugal made the 22:25 to 0:1 set.

Same scenario in the second set, with Portugal taking the lead and Greece chasing points early on. But this time we failed to get the difference, Portugal had high attacking rates (62% in the second set), Greece couldn’t break through their diagonal Jose Pinto who had 9 points in the set and 19-25 for the 0-2 set came naturally.

The Greek internationals didn’t give up the game and responded in the third set. Armed with a solid reception, Markos Galiotos had multiple options in attack, with Greece scoring an impressive 82% in the decider. Bonifante started with Koumendakis and Raptis on the wings, a formation that worked for him while Mouchlias completed 8/9 attacks. Portugal showed signs of fatigue, especially winger Alex Ferreira, and came into the game 25-20.

With morale high, the Greece internationals showed off all the elements they’d been working on over those two weeks and took control of the set early on. The Portuguese started making mistakes (8 in the 4th set), with Greece threatening them from the nine-metre line, notably through Raptis and Djuric. The well-positioned block of our national team gave us 10 counterattacks and 4 blocks, so that the score was 25:16 and the game went to the tie-break.

In the tie-break we started with three misses and Portugal held a 4-5 lead until the score was 4-5, which progressed to 7-5 with Rapti’s attack and two blocks ahead of the sensational Petraea, Mouchlia. The point of the game came when the score was 8-6, however, when Kokkinakis, after poor reception, reached the advert and deflected the ball into the net, where the Portuguese just saw Petraea finish the stage! The Portuguese equalized 8-8, but an attack from Petraeus and a block and attack from Mouchlia put Greece +3 (11-8). Even though we lost against the ball 13:10 and 14:11, the Portuguese were ahead in the next phase and the game was over.

Portugal – Greece 2-3

The sentences: 25-22, 25-19, 20-25, 16-25, 12-15

*Portugal’s points came from 1 ace, 66 attacks, 7 blocks and 24 errors and Greece’s points came from 4 aces, 62 attacks, 15 blocks and 25 errors.

PORTUGAL (Joao Jose): Sinphromnio 8 (7/11 ref, 1 block), Tsvetitsianin 9 (6/10 ref, 3 blocks), Ferreira 16 (15/30 ref, 1 ace, 55% sub-29% excellent), Martins 8 ( 8/29 ref., 37% ref.-26% excellent), Pinto 22 (20/34 ref., 2 blocks), Tavares 2 (2/5 ref.) / Casas (l, 52% ref.-32% excellent), Bello 1 (1/1 ff.), Brands 4 (3/6 ff., 1 block), Viola, Swing 4 (4/9 ff.)

GREECE (Dante Bonifande): Petreas 17 (9/10 ref, 1 ace, 7 blocks), Mouchlias 28 (26/43 ref, 2 blocks), Galiotos 2 (0/2 ref, 2 blocks), Raptis 12 (10/27 ref , 2 blocks, 38% under – 23% excellent), Jurich 11 (8/15 ff., 1 ace, 2 blocks), Protopsaltis 2 (4/15 ff., 1 ace, 36% under -18% excellent) / Kokkinakis (l, 71% sub – 47% excellent), Chandrinos (l), Koumentakis 7 (6/10ff, 1 ace, 42% sub – 17% excellent), Petsias, Linardos.

The schedule and results of the group

Tuesday, August 29th

• Israel-Greece 3-2 (25-17, 27-29, 21-25, 25-21, 15-13)

Wednesday 30 August

• Türkiye v France 0-3 (20-25, 28-30, 25-27)
• Romania-Portugal 0-3 (19-25, 18-25, 23-25)

Thursday 31 August

• France 3-1 Portugal (25:21, 25:27, 25:19, 25:15)
• Romania-Israel 2-3 (25-27, 25-12, 25-21, 22-25, 8-15)

Friday September 1st

• Romania 3-2 Turkey (25:22, 18:25, 25:21, 23:25, 17:15)
• Portugal-Greece 2-3 (25-22, 25-10, 20-25, 16-25, 12-15)

Saturday September 2nd

• 17:30, Türkiye-Greece
• 20:30, Israel-France

Sunday September 3rd

• 17:00, Greece-Romania
• 20:00, Israel-Portugal

Monday, September 4th

• 17:00, France-Romania
• 20:00, Portugal-Türkiye

Tuesday, September 5th

• 17:00, Greece-France
• 20:00, Türkiye-Israel

Group D Rating

1. France 2 wins-0 losses, 6 points, 6-1 sets, 182-155 points
2. Israel 2 wins-0 losses, 4 points, 6-4 sets, 213-110 points
3. Portugal 1 win-2 losses, 4 points, 6-6 sets, 255-266 points
4. Greece 1 win-1 loss, 3 points, 5-5 sets, 211-211 points
5. Romania 1 win-2 losses, 3 points, 5-8 sets, 273-283 points
6. Turkey 0 wins-2 losses, 1 point, 2-6 sets, 181-190 points

*The first 4 teams in the standings qualify for the next phase