Athlos Orestiada continues to staff the roster for the upcoming season, as it acquired Stavros Kasambalis, with the international passer strengthening the efforts of the newcomers in men’s A1 volleyball. The former volleyball player of Kifissia has served in, among others, National Alexandroupolis, Iraklis Chalkida, Olympiacos and APOEL, while last year he participated in the finals of the European Championship with the Greek National Team in Poland.
The announcement and statement of the new passer of the Orestiada club in detail:
The management of the Orestiada Sports Club is pleased to announce the start of its collaboration with the former athlete of the AOP Kifissia, Stavros Kasampalis. The 27-year-old international Greek passer, with a height of 1.91m. joins our team for the 2022-2023 Volley League season.
The support for the Orestiada League continues with the aim of creating a team that will star in the new Volleyleague championship. Stavros Kasampalis, with his personality and performances, raises the level of the team and the management, with methodical moves, made sure to “repatriate” him.
This is a particularly important addition to our team, as the active Hebrew international has a lot of experience in the top division of the Greek league. At the same time, he has important European performances, both from foreign championships and from major European competitions, as he has competed at the highest level of the sport, culminating in his participation with our National team in the finals of last year’s European championship hosted in Poland.
However, apart from the pivotal role in this year’s roster of our team and his excellent organizational skills, the left-handed “maestro” is expected with his “poisonous” service to create many problems in the opposing slots and to provide additional solutions in other areas of his game.
Born on June 1, 1995 in Alexandroupoli, the Thracian ace is “brought from the bowels” of Ethnikos Alexandroupolis. Son of the former international passer, coach and current University professor, Thanasis Kasampali, Stavros took his first steps in the net, in 2006 at the academies of Ethnikos Alexandroupoli, where he remained until 2012, during this time winning 2 Panhellenic Children’s championships ( 2008,2011) and three consecutive Junior titles (2011, 2012, 2013).
He then switched to the club’s men’s team, with whose shirt he played for another 3 years, making excellent appearances both in the Greek league and in Europe, being a key passer at the age of 18.
He emerged as a league finalist (2013-2014), was 2nd in the Super Cup and League Cup “N. Samaras” (2014-2015), while he was twice ranked 5th (2014-2015), 2015-2016) and 9th (2013-2014) of the Challenge Cup.
In the 2016-2017 season he played for Iraklis Chalkidas and then played outside Greece, in Finnish Leka and Nea Salamina Cyprus, gaining valuable international experiences.
In 2018, he returned to his hometown to compete for a year in Ethniki Alexandroupolis and then went abroad again to Cyprus, this time for APOEL. With the “blue and yellow” of Nicosia in the two years he played, he took 3rd place in the league and Cup, being one of the protagonists of the best course of the Cypriot team in the last 20 years.
The next stage of his career was Olympiacos in the 2020-2021 season, where he stayed for 6 months and was then loaned to A.O. P. Kifisias. However, Kasampalis, beyond “his little stone” in winning the Piraeus title of the season, emerged with 0.64 aces/per set as the leader in server efficiency of the championship and 2nd best, with a total of 35 aces!
At the same time, the outstanding performances of the Hebrew maestro, in addition to the honorary call-up to the Men’s National Team, forced the “red and whites” to add him to their roster again in the following season (2021-2022), but again halfway through the season, the Alexandropoulite ace “raised”, with a free transfer now, for Kifissia.
The left-handed passer has been an international athlete for many years, being a key player in our national teams, for Children, Teenagers and Men, with which last year he participated in the finals of the European championship and a few weeks ago he took 7th place in the Mediterranean Games in Algeria.
The new addition to our team is also a graduate of the Department of Physical Education and Sports Science (TEFAA) of the Democritus University of Thrace. It is worth noting that in 2013 he was crowned champion of the Panhellenic championship with the 3rd General High School of Alexandroupolis.
In his first statements on the Association’s official website, Stavros Kasampalis emphasized: “First I would like to dwell on last year’s course of the team, which really achieved a “feat” by achieving promotion to the Volleyleague salons. Many congratulations are due to the athletes, the management, but also to the entire world of Orestiada, who supported the team’s effort with all their might and had a leading role in its historic success, against some teams from other groups, much stronger and with bigger budgets. Despite this, the children of Athlos showed their… magic and finally managed to achieve the impossible against a Volleyleague team!
I am very happy for the new beginning I am making in the prefecture of Evros, a prefecture that not only knows how to play the sport at a high level and host major events, but above all that it has given birth to great athletes. Regarding the new season, I think that “many words are poverty”, as I see very good choices and careful planning by the administration.
I wish with determination, a lot of work and humility to take the Athlos team as high as we can and it deserves. For the beginning, however, we want the people by our side, so that with their support we can turn the closed “N. Samaras” into a “scary” venue for every opponent that will come to compete in Orestiada this year.”
The administration of our club welcomes Stavros to the family of Athlos Orestiada and wishes him health, strength and good success with our team.
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