Rentis won and Panathinaikos won the title match ball!

He made the “4 out of 4” against Olympiakos and Panathinaikos took a strong title lead! The team of Yiannis Kalmazidis prevailed in an impressive derby at “Melina Merkouri”. 3-1 setmade it 2-0 in the Women’s Volley League finals series and awaits the “eternal” rival in the OAKA Indoors on Saturday (6/5) to make it 3-0 and celebrate the 25th championship.

Shocking variation in the match with Panathinaikos taking the first two sets (25-27, 19-25)Olympiakos to react after a thriller in the third (29-27) and the “greens” to leave with the victory after a terrible match in the fourth (23-25).

Improbable duel between Flower and Tsitsigianni who kept their teams up throughout the match.

The match

Panathinaikos entered the match strongly with Ahh to play the lead and beat Olympiakos reception several times while Papafotiou’s smart pass brought the score to 5-7. Anae continued to break the block of the “red and whites”, but Koumboura with Salas and Emmanuilidou, brought Mitseli’s team into a position of strength (12-11). In fact, the “red and white” managed to extend their lead and find themselves at 4 points for the first time with Yiannis Kalmazidis calling a time-out. The “greens” woke up and managed to balance the match again with the excellent attacks “made” by Papafotiou and successfully finished the Flower with Grotus and Anae for the 21-21. Carraro’s ace and Sala’s block put the hosts back in front 23-21. Despite this, the team of Yiannis Kalmazidis reacted and took advantage of their unique opportunity set ball doing it 25-27 and the lead in sets.

In the second set Panathinaikos was leading 3-1 with Anthoulis and Papafotiou, but Olympiacos immediately equalized 3-3. The “red and white” managed to reach 3-3, but the Medici with Grotous they had a party in the net and brought Panathinaikos to +4. The second set turned into a one-man show after Panathinaikos took advantage of consecutive mistakes by the “red and whites” and even led by as much as eight points (11-19)! Lorenzo Mitseli’s team tried with Tsitsigianni to close the gap, but the reception of Panathinaikos “tightened” and the set ended with Anthoulis making the 19-25.

It started in a similar way third set as Panathinaikos with Gross and Anthoulis found a quick +4 (5-9). Nevertheless, Lorenzo Miceli’s timeout was what turned the “button” for Olympiacos, with Carraro, Tsitsigianni and Salas bringing the score to 12-11! The “greens” remained in front of the score for quite some time with MVP, Martha Anthoulis to continue to break the “red and white” block with the streak jumping to 7-0. Olympiacos, however, showed their spirit and with Salas as the main protagonist and Tsitsigianni as a hidden card, turned the match into a thriller with the score coming to 26-27 in favor of Panathinaikos. In the last attack the Ahh got the point but Papafotiou had found the net with the result that the phase was examined and the point was awarded to Olympiakos for the 27-27. So the Hall with two consecutive points he did it 29-27 and reduced to 2-1 in the sets for the “red and white”.

Variation for strong nerves in fourth set with the lead constantly changing hands and Olympiakos leaving for the first time in the +4 (6-2) forcing Giannis Kalmazidis to call a timeout. Panathinaikos went on a powerful 4-0 run that put them ahead on the scoreboard, with the tie becoming from that point onward… permanence. At the most crucial point, Panathinaikos went ahead with three thanks to the excellent creation of Papafotiou and the executive skill of Anae and Grotous, at the moment when Medits and Anthoulis made it difficult with their service for the “red and white” reception. Salas and Tsitsigianni brought the score to a draw again 20-20 but the coolly built attacks from Panathinaikos gave him the match with 23-25 for the final 3-1 in sets.

Here are the derby stats