The “greens” scored their first victory and reduced to 2-1, with the series being transferred for the fourth match to “Melina Merkouri”. The game will be played on Monday, April 22, with the “red and white” having the opportunity to win the 32nd title in their history in front of their audience.
The sets (home team PAO first): 25-15, 21-25, 20-25, 25-20, 19-17.
The race
The game was not the best played between the two eternal rivals, as both made mistakes, relied on individual actions from their players and fluctuated in performance.
Panathinaikos found the victory it was looking for in the series with an improved reception compared to the previous match which received 15 aces, protagonist Protopsaltis in service and attack and the experienced Hernandez, Kovar scoring decisive points at critical points. Despite the victory, however, Panathinaikos only got 3 points from blocks in 5 sets, compared to 11 for Olympiakos.
In the tie break, Panathinaikos led 8-5 with an ace by Petraeus and an attack by Frankos, but Olympiacos equalized with an attack and block by Hidalgo. In the points rally that followed, the “clover” had a continuous lead until 17-16, which came with an attack by Protopsaltis.
Djuric equalized (17-17) but Travica lost serve and the match ended with Hernandez ace to Dziavra.
Panathinaikos coach Dimitris Andreopoulos said: “Panathinaikos had an amazing year and deserves to claim the championship. We are losing in the series 2-1, we still have our backs once morest the wall and we don’t want to talk, we let others do it. We’ll believe it until the last ball drops. We have achieved a lot and we are trying very hard”, commented the coach of Panathinaikos, Dimitris Andreopoulos.
His counterpart in the “red and whites”, Daniel Castellani, underlined: “We were close to ending the series of finals from today. However, we didn’t do such a good job today, especially in attack and then in service. Our performance was not at such a high level. We now go to our stadium for the fourth final. We are waiting for people to come and support us.”
Panathinaikos’ points came from 12 aces, 53 attacks (49% efficiency), 3 blocks and 42 opponent errors (26 lost serves) and Olympiacos’ 7 aces, 52 attacks (46% efficiency), 11 blocks and 32 opponent errors ( 22 missed serves).
PANATHINAIKOS (Dimitris Andreopoulos): Kasampalis 2 (1 ace, 1 block), Kovar 12 (9/18 ff., 1 ace, 2 blocks, 42% sub. – 26% excellent), Rangel 5 (5/9 ff.), Hernandez 26 (23/46 f., 3 aces), Voulkidis 4 (2/6 f., 2 aces), Protopsaltis 17 (13/26 f., 4 aces, 48% sub. – 33% excellent) / Kontostathis ( l, 52% sub. – 22% excellent), Petreas 1 (1 ace), Markou, Fragos 1 (1/2 sub., 40% sub. – 20% excellent).
OLYMPIC (Daniel Castellani): Stern 18 (16/34 ref., 2 aces), Gustavao 5 (2/8 ref., 3 blocks), Koumendakis 11 (9/24 ref., 1 ace, 1 block, 26% ref. – 5% excellent), Travisa 3 (1/3 ref., 2 blocks), Juric 13 (9/11 ref., 2 aces, 2 blocks), Hidalgo 20 (15/34 ref., 2 aces, 3 blocks, 25% sub. – 9% excellent) / Tziavras (l, 27% sub. – 3% excellent), Karasavvidis (l), Komitoudis, Dalakouras.
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#Panathinaikos #won #stayed #alive
