Panathinaikos finished the δουλειά half job in Ukraine as it prevailed over Horodok with 3-1 sets and can now qualify for the quarterfinals of the Challenge Cup even in case of defeat in the tiebreak in Athens

Panathinaikos showed its superiority over its opponent in tonight’s match in Ukraine and for most of the match it had the advantage.

The coach Dimitris Andreopoulos showed that he was read against his opponent and the team lined up exceptionally on the field. It is worth noting that the opponent of the “clover” is the basis of the National Team of Ukraine.

The “clover” had a very good day with Den Dris, Protopsalti and Andreopoulos while at the same time Garas was stable and Rangel and Stalekar were present in all the difficult phases.

In the first set, Panathinaikos was surprised by its opponent as at the beginning it made several mistakes in the reception and was back in the score with 6-2.

Nevertheless, he recovered quickly and managed to bring the match to a tie at the next points and tied at 9-9.

All the “greens” raised their performance and with a high performance of Dan Driss they managed and took a critical lead with 16-18. The “greens” were serious until the end in all the phases that the ball “burned” and won it 24-26.

In the second set, Panathinaikos was the one who surprised from the beginning and took a wide lead at the beginning with 1-5 and 2-7 afterwards. He maintained the lead and shortly after the half of the second set with 9-14, however, the hosts pressed and reached a breathing distance of 16-17.

Nevertheless, the “greens” with a great performance and an awesome point at 18-22 with a total effort and final energy of Protopsaltis showed that they are losing the set.

Sasso Stalekar was the one who finished the set while Rangel put the penultimate point and made it 2-0 with 23-25.

Regarding the third set, the Ukrainian team managed to have a small lead with 7-6 in the beginning while about half of the set maintained the lead with 13-11. Unfortunately, PAO could not have the same high performance at this point in time and was left behind in the score with 20-15 and finally lost the set with 25-20 and so it became 1-2.

The next set found the “greens” to come in determined and take the lead with 6-8 and just before the middle of the set with 8-12. He maintained the lead towards the end of the set with 18-20 and finally won it with 22-25.

Orodok’s points came from 5 aces, 45 attacks, 16 blocks and 28 opponents’ mistakes and Panathinaikos’ points came from 6 aces, 54 attacks, 11 blocks and 25 opponents’ mistakes.

Horodok (Marius Sordil): Drozd 8 (5/9 fps, 3 blocks), Didenko 2 (1 ace, 1 block), Tomin 1 (1/8 fps), Didovic 9 (7/22 fps, 2 blocks) , 47% min. – 12% excellent), Salpuk 15 (12/24 ep., 1 ace, 2 blocks, 30% min. – 15% excellent), Semeniuk 18 (7/15 ep., 3 aces, 8 blocks ) / Fomin (l, 32% min. – 12% excellent), Brova (l), Kisilyuk (1/2 ff.), Yevstatov, Vietski 11 (11/28 ff.), Sintorenko 2 (2/5 ff. , 00% yp-00% excellent).

PANATHINAIKOS A.O. (Dimitris Andreopoulos): Protopsaltis 13 (11/31 ff., 2 aces, 42% min. – 05% excellent), Jacobsen 6 (3/3 ff., 2 aces, 1 block), Rangel 8 (8/13 ff. .), Andreopoulos 13 (11/24 ff., 2 blocks, 33% min. – 09% excellent), Van de Dries 22 (16/39 ff., 1 ace, 5 blocks), Stalekar 9 (5/9 ff. ., 1 ace, 3 blocks) / Garas (λ, 42% yp. – 29% excellent), Markou, Raptis.

In a statement, the coach Dimitris Andreopoulos stressed: “Victory is always in demand and today’s victory was great. “Our opponent is very strong and we have to be careful because the qualification has not been judged, as it remains open despite the important result we got”.

The statement of Sasso Stalekar was on the same wavelength: “It was a hard game, especially after our trip and in a foreign stadium full of their fans. We had to go in hard and it worked out. In the third set we lost a little of our concentration and energy. In the fourth set we came back strong and got the victory. It is not over yet, we have another match with them. We will rest now, we will keep our composure and we will concentrate on the next race “.