PAOK 2-3: a duo with Surprise and Dikephalos, one win away from the finals

We watched a great match in Maroussi where PAOK won 3-2 in two sets against Panathinaikos and are now one win away from qualifying for the Men’s Volleyball League Finals.

PAOK took the first set easily, Panathinaikos made the first reversal to take a 2-1 lead, but the one who smiled at the end was Dikephalos who made it 2-0 in the semi-finals.

the matchPAOK entered the match quickly. Milenkoski’s players pressed from the start with serve and managed to build a lead of up to ten points (5-15).

Panathinaikos responded, and reduced the deficit, but once again PAOK managed to respond quickly and close the first set with a score of 25-12.

The second group had a similar picture, but with the opposite effect. Panathinaikos was the one who managed to escape from the start of the group in the score and PAOK was the one chasing. Finally, the Greens managed to equalize and easily made it 1-1 in sets with a 25-16 lead.

In the third set we finally had a battle between the two teams who went point by point until 13-13. At that point, Panathinaikos led 7-3 to lead 20-16.

PAOK did not give up and managed to reduce the score to 24-23, but Hernandez finished the set with an attack that made it 25-23 and at the same time the set 2-1 for Panathinaikos.

We also had a derby in the fourth set where PAOK managed to escape early with a four-point lead (6-10), but the Greens were immediately able to reduce the score to a point (10-11).

Panathinaikos kept up the pressure and overcame with a header from Besis to take a 20-19 lead. There, however, PAOK went on a 6-1 run to close the fourth set 25-21 and send the match into a tiebreaker.

At the tie break we had several score changes with both teams scoring many small individual scores. But in the end, the one who smiled was PAOK who finished the set and the match with a score of 15-13.

Panathinaikos – PAOK 2-3

Collections: 12-25, 25-16, 25-23, 21-25, 13-15

Semi-finals schedule

The first match – Wednesday 22 March 2023

• POK – Panathinaikos A. 3-0

The second match – Saturday 25 March 2023

• Panathinaikos – PAOK 2-3

The third match – Wednesday 5 April 2023

• PAOK Sports Arena Gym 19:45 (ERT-3): PAOK – Panathinaikos A.

Fourth Match – Saturday 8th April 2023 (if required)

• St. Thomas Gymnasium, Maroussi, 21:00, (PAO TV): Panathinaikos – PAOK

Match 5 – Wednesday 12th April 2023 (if required)

• PAOK Sports Arena Gym 19:45 (ERT-3): PAOK – Panathinaikos A.

* Qualification to the finals will be determined by 3 wins.