Olympiacos into the CEV Champions League Volley Round 2

On Tuesday (24/9) evening, the Greek double winners team won 3-0 (25-19, 25-17, 25-21) against Stroumitsa at the "M. Mercouri" gym in Renti, in the rematch of the first qualifying round of the competition, while they "cleared" the qualification to the next stage in 49 minutes (2-0).

In the first home European "battle" of the 2024-25 season, Thrylos, who played without Travitsas, Tziavra and Koumentakis, and "lost" Djuric midway through the second set with an injury, made a very good performance, dominated against the champions of North Macedonia and achieved their goal, with young Hasbala as the main passer, Atanasievic as the top scorer with 19 points and Dalakouras (12) as MVP.

The 'reds' will face one of Las Palmas (Spain) and Benfica (Portugal) in the second qualifying round of the CEV Champions League, which they will find out tomorrow (25/9).

In more detail, Olympiacos ONEX started with a starting seven of Hasbalas, Atanasievic, Djuric, Pagenk, Perin, Dalakoura and Konstantinidis. With the Greek doubles team coming out strong in the game and taking a 4-1 lead, with Pagenck's first time out. Hasbala served superbly to Perin, who scored a kill to make it 5-2, with Payenck striking again with a first time kill to make it 6-3. Strumica closed the gap (7-6), but with an ace by Djuric, Thrylos was back at +3 (12-9). Hasbala earned an ace, for 18-15, as did Atanasyevic, for 23-19, with Dalakura making it 24-19. 25-19 and the 1-0 set lead came after the visitors' service aces, with the Red and White having 63% efficiency in the attack.

In the second set, Olympiacos ONEX took a 7-4 lead on an ace by Pagenk, with Atanasyevich earning a block out to go up 4 (10-6). However, at that point, Djuric retired on subbing, as he was injured and gave way to Jelve. Dalakouras scored two consecutive points to make it +5 (12-7), Atanasiyevic made it +6 (14-8), and Perin nailed a big dunk to make it +7 and 18-11 for the doubles team. It was a similar picture in the next set, with Pagenk "cleaning up" the set, as he scored a first time winner to make it 25-17 and 2-0!

In the third set, Thrylos came back to 12-10, with a Dalakoura break, while Atanasyevic earned a "warm" applause in Rendi, thanks to a great pin, which made it 16-15. A block by Jelve and 17-16 for the Reds, while Atanasievic gave the Reds an "air" of two points (18-16) in the same way. Olympiacos ONEX's lead reached +4 (20-16), with another excellent attack by Dalakouras, but the North Macedonia champions reacted and closed the gap to one point (20-19). With an ace by Atanasievic, the Greek champions reached a bowl/match bowl set (24-21), while after a Stroumica kill, they made it 25-21 and the final 3-0 set.