Without being pressured, PAOK defeated Athlos Orestiada 3-1 in “Palataki” for the quarter-finals of the “Nikos Samaras” League Cup and qualified for the semi-finals of an event that it aims to conquer.
The two teams started the game evenly, with PAOK leading 12-10 with Van Harderen, while Takouridis made it 16-12. Blankenau distributed the game amazingly and, with Truchchev, Saltaferidis and Gatsis in the attack, the “doubleheader” reached 25-17.
Athlos entered the second set better and, with Renan-Bake, led 9-6, but PAOK with its own streak led 12-11. Now, the ties followed each other and Athlos, with Van Harderen’s mistake, took the lead 20-19. The Akrites went to a double bowl set (22-24) with Ristic, but with two bad choices the set went to overtime (24-24). There, the bowl set changed hands twice and ended in the “doubleheader” with the block of Gatsis for 29-27.
The third set was extremely competitive, with Athlos holding the lead throughout and Bake leading 16-15. PAOK with 24-23 went to a match bowl, but did not take advantage of it, as a result of which the Hebrews, after an outside attack by Truchchev and a point by Ristic, lost 28-26.
In the fourth set, the “black and white” with aces from Truchchev and Blankenau led 10-6. Linardos with two consecutive blocks made it 21-14 and Saltaferides’ ace made it 25-18.
The sets: 25-17, 29-27, 26-28, 25-18
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