Legendary Panathinaikos, “overturned” PAOK too!

Too tough to…die Panathinaikos!Although found back with 2-0 set by PAOK in Agios Thomas he managed to repeat the task and in the end prevailed in the tie-break of the “double-header of the north” taking a small lead for the qualification to the semi-finals of the “Nikos Samaras” League Cup.

At January 4th in “Palataki” the rematch with the team of Dimitris Andreopoulos looking for a clean victory to “seal” the ticket for the top four.

In the competitive part, the guests entered the taraflex better with Van De Dries being the main exponent of their attacks, even giving the lead 6-2. Panathinaikos “gnawed away” at the difference with Hernandez and Jacobsen, but PAOK was stormy in the serve and almost infallible in the reception, regaining the lead and finally conquering the first set with 25-21.

In the second set Josko Milekonski’s team continued to press the reception of Panathinaikos with the strong and borderline hits on the serve. The risk paid off and PAOK took a serious lead of five points from the start making it 9-4. Then the Kovar and Fragos responded to the “killed” attacks of the guests, bringing the match to -1, but Jorna and Raptis did not allow the reversal, giving PAOK a 4-point lead again. From that point on, the “greens” lost their concentration, as a result of which the visitors “opened” the gap even more and took the set with 25-19.

Panathinaikos didn’t manage to enter well either third set by PAOK to reach 1-5 with consecutive aces of Voulkidis and Van De Dries forcing Dimitris Andreopoulos to call a timeout. In the middle of the set, Voulkidis and Rangel had a small skirmish with the temporary interruption benefiting Panathinaikos. The “greens” woke up and Kovar leveled the set with an ace making it 23-23. As was normal, Dimitris Andreopoulos’s players rallied and made it 2-1 with another ace, this time from George Petraeus who did it 26-24.

Psychology played a decisive role for Panathinaikos in fourth set with Hernandez raising his performance. The hosts were excellent in the block “trapping” PAOK and brought the match to +8 at the most critical point of the set making it 21-13. As was normal until the end nothing changed and Panathinaikos equalized at 2-2 after taking the set with 25-16.

In the bye break the “clover” had the momentum and did not waste a moment in the quick lead it took from the start with Hernandez bringing the match to 4-0. Van de Dries reduced the gap but Kovar and Jacobsen did what they wanted PAOK over the net and gave victory to the trophy holder, Panathinaikos, making 15-8.

*Panathinaikos’ points came from 10 aces, 54 attacks, 13 blocks and 29 mistakes by opponents and P.A.O.K. they came from 12 aces, 55 attacks, 12 blocks and 19 opponent errors.

The sets: 3-2 (21-25, 19-25, 26-24, 25-16, 15-08) in 126′

Panathinaikos (Dimitris Andreopoulos): Kovar 10 (7/22 ff., 1 ace, 2 blocks, 59% sub. – 41% excellent), Petraeus 11 (5/10 ff., 2 aces, 4 blocks), Jacobsen 1 (1 ace), Rangel 14 (10/12 ref., 4 blocks), Frankos 5 (5/16 ref., 40% sub. – 20% excellent), Hernandez 36 (27/44 ref., 6 aces, 3 blocks) / Zisis (l, 47% sub – 34% excellent), Georgiou, Bassis, Kostopoulos.

PAOK (Josko Milenkoski): Giorna 12 (11/28 ff., 1 ace, 68% sub. – 42% excellent), Costa 13 (8/9 ff., 1 ace, 4 blocks), Walsh 5 (2/3 ff., 2 aces, 1 block), Voulkidis 12 (7/12 ff., 3 aces, 2 blocks), Raptis 7 (5/19 ff., 2 blocks, 33% sub. – 18% excellent), Van De Dries 27 (19/41 ref., 5 aces, 3 blocks) / Kokkinakis (l, 52% sub. – 39% excellent), Ilias, Sotiriou 1 (1/3 ref.), Gatsis, Takouridis, Butos 2 (2/2 ref.).

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