Olympiacos through to #CLVolleyW 2nd Round
News
On Tuesday, Olympiacos PIRAEUS claimed their second 3-1 victory in as many matches with Belgium’s Asterix Avo BEVEREN to secure their spot in the 2nd Round of the women’s CEV Champions League Volley 2022. Their next opponent will be Minchanka MINSK of Belarus.
As they had done last week in Greece, Asterix Avo delivered a great performance with their young team (average 20 years young) against Olympiacos. Some 250 supporters witnessed an exciting match in the beautiful sports hall especially by the municipality of Beveren to comply with CEV Champions League requirements.
The Greek team was clearly better prepared for this return game. With the score standing at 14-10 in their favour in the first set, Asterix Avo coach Kris Vansnick tried to break Olympiacos’ rhythm with time-outs and substitutions.
With Nynke Hofstede instead of her compatriot Laura Overwater, the home team started the second set with a re-mixed starting six, but at first, it was difficult for Asterix Avo to find solutions, especially offensively. However, slowly but surely, their service and block worked better and better. The visiting coach desperately switched his captain and setter Styliani Christodoulou – with their star player Wilma Salas Rosell leaving the court as well, but without changing the course of the game as Asterix won the second set to stay alive in this contest.
Nova Marring was outstanding in attack at the start of the third set. Olympiacos coach Gil Ferrer Cutino resorted to a timeout when trailing 4-12. Point after point, the Greek squad came closer and Olympiacos took the lead at 17-16. It was up to Asterix coach Vansnick to stop the Greek comeback with substitutions, but to no avail.
Olympiacos qualified for the next round of the Champions League after winning two sets and continued the game with several of their substitute players. The disappointment for Asterix Avo was too great to fight back with much energy in the fourth and final set.