Olympiacos emerge victorious from tiebreak with Minchanka
News
Olympiacos PIRAEUS were the big winners of the first duel with Minchanka MINSK of Belarus in the 2nd Round of the women’s CEV Champions League Volley 2022. The ‘Red and Whites’ prevailed at the tiebreak (25-21, 25-27, 25-23, 20-25, 15-13) in a match that did not feature home star Wilma Salas, who was unprepared, with Feroniki Zioga out due to a minor injury problem as well.
Olympiacos, however, could count on eventual top scorer Saskia Hippe with 24 points, the excellent Mariana Costa, who registered 20, and excellent work in the back of the court. Maria Genitsaridi - who gave valuable solutions - and Aikaterina Giota with 15 points and decisive blocks were instrumental to the home win as well. In the return match coming up next Thursday in Belarus, Olympiacos will need a victory with any score to progress to the next round, while in case of a 2-3 loss a Golden Set will determine the eventual winner of this double header. For Minsk, the best scorer was Alena Laziuk with 21 points, followed by the Viktoryia Siakretava with 19 and the Kseniya Liabiodkina with 16.
Stanislav Salikov“I want to say thank you to my girls for their performance in tonight’s game. We did not have some players available to play. I hope that in the next game in Minsk, we will have a full team and we will win.”
Head coach of Minchanka MINSK
Alena Laziuk“Competing in this kind of game is a new experience for me. Through such games, you gain a lot of experience and I think I gained a lot today. We have a bittersweet taste today after we played very well, but unfortunately, we did not manage to beat Olympiacos. It was a fantastic match today.”
Player of Minchanka MINSK
Gil Ferrer CutinoGil Ferrer Cutino, head coach of Olympiacos: “We played against a very good team and although we had a small lead in the second set, it was difficult to say why we got confused. We fought and the most important thing is that we got the victory and I want to congratulate my whole team for tonight. As for the next steps, we must continue to work and dedicate ourselves to next Saturday’s game and then prepare the match in Minsk, which will certainly not be easy.”
Head coach of Olympiacos PIRAEUS
Aikaterina Giota“We must not forget that we were playing with a very good team, with key members of the national team of Belarus. They fight until the last moment and we must pay attention to that in the next game in Minsk. We may have lost the second set due to some of our own mistakes, however I think the team reacted very well, and we finally got a good result and that is what counts. Maybe we have a small lead ahead of the next round, but nothing is over and we have to win the game in Minsk.”
Player of Olympiacos PIRAEUS