PAOK “overthrew” Panathinaikos and made an appointment with Olympiacos in the final!

He took his “air” and goes for the cup! PAOK won a 3-1 set against Panathinaikos with the legendary Bram van der Dries making a great match and made an appointment with Olympiakos in Sunday’s final (1/4, 21:30) where they will claim the fifth Cup in their history!

The match

The first set was balanced in all areas with both teams unable to break away from the score. Van de Dries for PAOK and Hernandez for Panathinaikos were the main exponents with the Belgian scoring difficult points and the Cuban monopolizing production with attacks mainly on the small diagonal. PAOK escaped with the Belgian’s two attacks, making it 19-17, while Skentrau brought the “two-headed man of the north” into a position of power for 20-17. The “greens” reacted by re-balancing the match with PAOK winning the first bowl set 24-22. Panathinaikos with Kovar and Hernandez “turned it off”, but the Cuban with two consecutive points put Panathinaikos ahead at the most critical point with 26-25, defeating the double “black and white” block. The set finally went to the “cloverleaf” with the terrible block of Petreas on Voulkidis with which it was formed 27-25.

{“@context”:”http://schema.org”,”@type”:”VideoObject”,”name”:”ΠΑΟΚ – ΠΑΟ | Τρομερή επιστροφή των “πράσινων” και 0-1″,”description”:”Τρομερή επιστροφή των “πράσινων” και 0-1″,”thumbnailUrl”:”https://imageservicethumbs.glomex.com/dC1ibHU1bnRqdHo4bDUvMjAyMy8wMy8zMS8xOC81OF80M182NDI3MmQ2M2EzOTY5LmpwZw==/profile:player-960×540″,”duration”:”PT1M12S”,”uploadDate”:”2023-03-31T18:59:43.000Z”,”embedUrl”:”https://player.glomex.com/integration/1/iframe-player.html?integrationId=eexbs13jtbwtdve&playlistId=v-crksqq3duiw1″,”provider”:{“@type”:”Organization”,”name”:”glomex GmbH”,”logo”:{“@type”:”ImageObject”,”url”:”https://player.glomex.com/[email protected]”,”width”:136,”height”:146}}}

PAOK entered the second set determined to equalize and managed with Van de Dries and Walsh to take a quick lead with three points 8-5. The “double-header of the north” stepped on the gas and managed to make it 13-8 with the formidable Van de Dries irreparably exposing the disorganized “green” reception. Rangel tried for Panathinaikos, but both the block of the champions and the reception remained at a very bad level, with the result that PAOK left at +9! Panathinaikos with Petrea and Kovar “nibbled” the distance to five, but the set ended in the Thessaloniki team with 25-17.

{“@context”:”http://schema.org”,”@type”:”VideoObject”,”name”:”ΠΑΟΚ – ΠΑΟ | Καταιγιστικοί οι Θεσσαλονικείς και 1-1″,”description”:”Καταιγιστικοί οι Θεσσαλονικείς και 1-1″,”thumbnailUrl”:”https://i1thumbs.glomex.com/dC1ibHU1bnRqdHo4bDUvMjAyMy8wMy8zMS8xOS80Nl8wOV82NDI3Mzg4MTRiNjE3LmpwZw==/profile:player-960×540″,”duration”:”PT1M25S”,”uploadDate”:”2023-03-31T19:47:17.000Z”,”embedUrl”:”https://player.glomex.com/integration/1/iframe-player.html?integrationId=eexbs13jtbwtdve&playlistId=v-crkss4qanx8h”,”provider”:{“@type”:”Organization”,”name”:”glomex GmbH”,”logo”:{“@type”:”ImageObject”,”url”:”https://player.glomex.com/[email protected]”,”width”:136,”height”:146}}}

The start of the third set was similar with PAOK taking a 3-0 lead. Panathinaikos “short-circuited” losing successive attacks with PAOK’s difference reaching +5 for 6-1. The “green” attacks were not rational at all and constantly exposed Hernandez at the moment when PAOK were getting points from the block. The “blackout” of Panathinaikos continued with Raptis and Walls giving PAOK a double score again for 14-7 which forced Dimitris Andreopoulos to call time-out again. With their return to the taraflex, not much changed as Panathinaikos was even more limited in the block with Van de Dries and Scentrau bringing PAOK to +6 (16-10). PAOK’s streak was extended with Raptis winning his second ace and Van de Dries making it 19-13. Panathinaikos came back with Kovar reducing with two consecutive points, but the “green”‘s misfired serves gave PAOK the third set 25-20 giving them a 2-1 lead in the sets.

Shocking was the fluctuation of the fourth set, with Panathinaikos getting after some time solutions from Kovar and Fragos to put the “greens” ahead for the first time after the first set with 12-10. The Greek winger continued to break the PAOK block after the Italian’s excellent receptions, making it 14-11 and forcing Josko Milekonski into a timeout. Van de Dries and the consecutive attacks in the first period by Scentrau put PAOK in the most critical point of the match in front of the score with 17-16. The “greens” lost their cool with Skentraou again giving solutions over the net in his combinations with Giorna, while Voulkidis’ ace brought the match to 21-18.

More in a while…