The tired Panathinaikos defeated the fighting Kifissia in the tie break

Panathinaikos saw the grace with his eyes. The Greek champions came within a breath of defeat at bye break from excellent Kifissiahowever they managed to win the last match of the first round of the Volley League.

Terrible performance from the northern suburbs team who led twice and lost the match in the details. The “greens” now turn their attention to the rematch of the League Cup with PAOK in “Palataki” on Wednesday (28/12) wanting to make… a happy New Year.

The match:

The match was a real… derby since first set as Kifissia did not spare a moment in Panathinaikos, finding immediate answers and bringing the match to their liking throughout. The hosts paid for the poor receptions and the visitors managed to turn the score against them, turning 21-19 into 21-22 with two block outs and an ace by Okosanovic. Hernandez moved to the critical points in shallow water and the team of Kostas Christofidelis reached the 25-23 taking the first set.

The pace was similar for both teams in the second set. Kifisia took the lead with Moreira and Okosanovic being excellent, however Jacobsen’s block and the substantial performance of Fragos “unblocked” Panathinaikos who made the 18-13 in the middle of the set. This difference was not managed to be covered by the guests and thus Panathinaikos reached the tie with the difference reaching the maximum value of the points in 25-19.

The thriller continued in the third set with Kifissia building its difference and reaching +5 early on. In fact, the guests shielded their block and taking advantage of the bad momentum that the Panathinaikos players had they reached the +9 and 15-6. Rangel and Kovar tried to make a comeback for the “clover”, but Kifisia again took the lead in the sets after 25-17.

In the fourth set, Panathinaikos woke up and entered the taraflex determined to turn the match around. Kovar and Hernandez hit the gas converting the +1 and +11 bringing their team to 25-15 and sending the match to bye break.

There, the match turned into Russian roulette with both teams giving each other the lead. Panathinaikos escaped to three, but Okosanovic took it upon himself by making 13-11 for Kifissia. There, mistakes followed one another with constant draws prolonging the agony.

The visitors did not take advantage of the three opportunities they were given in the tie-break, with Panathinaikos finally reaching the victory by taking the soul-destroying process with 19-17

*Panathinaikos’ points came from 12 aces, 57 attacks, 13 blocks and 27 opponent errors and Kifisia’s points came from 9 aces, 56 attacks, 6 blocks and 30 opponent errors.

The sets: 23-25, 25-19, 17-25, 25-15, 19-17 in 129′

Panathinaikos (Dimitris Andreopoulos): Kovar 24 (21/27 ref., 3 aces, 44% sub. – 16% excellent), Petraeus 8 (5/11 ref., 3 blocks), Jacobsen 3 (2/5 ref., 1 block), Bassis 4 (0/3 ff., 3 aces, 1 block), Frankos 16 (10/22 ff., 3 aces, 3 blocks, 60% sub. – 13% excellent), Hernandez 26 (19/37 ff., 3 aces , 4 blocks) / Zisis (l, 21% sub. – 0% excellent), Georgiou, Kostopoulos 1 (0/6 ff., 1 block, 25% sub. – 25% excellent).

Kifissia (Kostas Christofidelis): Okosanovic 30 (26/54 ff., 2 aces, 2 blocks), Stivachtis 1 (1 ace), Rego 11 (9/19 ff., 2 aces, 37% sub. – 14% excellent), Spiliotis 1 (1 block ), Moreira 13 (8/9 ref., 3 aces, 2 blocks), Chavers 15 (13/34 ref., 1 ace, 1 block, 37% sub. – 13% excellent) / Kontostathis (l, 32% sub .- 14% excellent), Roussopoulos, Papadopoulos, Philippakopoulos, Dravopoulos.

Earlier, in Syros, Foinikas returned to winning ways as it easily prevailed 3-0 set by Aristotle Skydras at “Dimitris Vikelas”

The team of Dimitris Kazazis worked very well on the serve, while Charalambidis had a very good day with 7 points, Papalexiou with 10 and Fromm with 14.

In the first set, the “pirates” entered strongly with the team of Panagiotis Sdraukakis putting a lot of pressure on the reception of the home team and getting close to the end of the set, which eventually ended up in Phoenix with 25-23. In the second, the Skydra team was much more improved leading the match to 16-16, which however the home team managed and eventually won 25-21. Finikas entered the taraflex determined to finish the job, reaching the difference to +6 (16-10) which they expanded to nine making it 21-12, with the match ending with 25-16 for 3-0.

*Phoenika’s points came from 5 aces, 38 attacks, 10 blocks and 22 opponent errors and Aristotle Skydras’ points came from 4 aces, 37 attacks, 7 blocks and 12 opponent errors.

The sets: 25-23, 25-21, 25-16

Finikas Syros (Dimitris Kazazis): Michalovic 6 (3/11 ref., 1 ace, 2 blocks), Papalexiou 10 (6/10 ref., 4 blocks), Charalambidis 7 (6/11 ref., 1 ace), Klinkenberg 8 (6/11 ref. , 2 aces, 72% ref. – 39% excellent), Galiotos 6 (3/4 ref., 3 blocks), Fromm 12 (12/22 ref., 48% ref. – 24% excellent) / Konstantinidis (l, 47% sub – 33% excellent), Sonakis (l), Roumeliotakis 1 (1/3 ff.), Manolakis 1 (1 block), Papadopoulos 1 (1/2 ff.).

Aristotle Skydras (Panagiotis Sdraukakis): Mendez 14 (10/25 ref., 1 ace, 3 blocks), Flores 8 (7/18 ref., 1 block, 47% sub. – 26% excellent), Rojas 9 (6/8 ref., 1 ace, 2 blocks), Torres 11 (9/22 ff., 1 ace, 1 block, 56% sub. – 22% excellent), Tselios 4 (3/12 ff., 1 ace), Vlachopoulos / Synadinos (l, 72% sub. – 33% excellent), Antoniou (l, 100% sub. – 78% excellent), Papageorgiou, Sdraukakis 1 (1/1 ff.), Paleologos 1 (1/1 ff.).