The men's volleyball section of Panathinaikos achieved the "double" in Slovakia in the premiere of its official duties in the Challenge Cup, with a 3-1 set against Spartak Miyava.

The support of the “clover” fans was also remarkable, as more than 200 “green” supporters were found in Slovakia. Most of them were from Greece, but there were also quite a few who made the journey to be in Slovakia from central Europe.

In the competitive part, Panathinaikos was superior for most of the match and is in an advantageous position with the three points won ahead of the rematch at OAKA, on Wednesday, October 19 at 18:30. PAO started strongly, controlled the pace of the first set and took a 1-0 lead (16-25) without much difficulty.

With the same concentration and mood, the “greens” of coach Andreopoulos continued in the second set as well, building an early difference with 2-6 and then 6-13. Spartak could not react and PAO continued to widen the distance for +12 (6-18). The set finally ended 11-25 in favor of PAO for 2-0. The third set was the most competitive with the two teams going hand in hand until 19-19. Although the “clover” started well at 1-3, the home team tied it at 4-4 and several more draws followed until Hernandez made it 13-10 with three consecutive aces of his own.

PAO found themselves behind 22-20 at a critical point as a result of which Spartak finally reduced to 2-1 set 25-21. The “greens” came in determined to “turn off” the counterattack of the Slovaks and indeed with a 1-7 streak they laid the foundations for winning the set. The picture did not change with PAO opening the gap even more (5-16) for the final 14-25. Leading for Panathinaikos was Hernandez with 20 points and 5 aces, while Andreas Fragos (14 points, 5 aces), Rangel (12 points, 6 blocks) and Kovar (10 points, 2 aces) were also in double figures.

The variance of the match: 1st set: 6-8, 8-16, 11-21, 16-25 2nd set: 4-8, 7-16, 10-21, 11-25 3rd set: 7-8, 15-16, 21-19, 25-21 4th set: 2-8, 5-16, 10-21, 14-25

Spartak Miyava’s points came from 5 aces, 32 attacks, 7 blocks and 22 opponent errors and Panathinaikos’ points came from 15 aces, 45 attacks, 12 blocks and 24 opponent errors. The sets: 1-3 (16-25, 11-25, 25-21, 14-25) in 96′

SPARTAK MIGYAVA (Vitaly Osipov): Vatka 12 (8/22 ff., 4 blocks, 44% subs. – 33% excellent), Viscup 15 (13/28 ff., 2 aces), Ziman M. 4 (3/8 ref., 1 ace), Konds 6 (6/13 ref., 41% sub. – 19% excellent), Valo 3 (2 aces, 1 block), Ziman O. 4 (2/3 ref., 2 blocks) / Sima (l, 38% sub. – 19% excellent), Panko (l), Pollak, Donets M., Donets A., Rziman.

Panathinaikos (Andreopoulos): Kovar 10 (8/11 ref., 2 aces), Petreas 6 (5/8 ref., 1 block), Jacobsen 4 (2/2 ref., 1 ace, 1 block), Bassis 2 (2 aces), Zisis (l, 55%sub-9% no.), Markou 2 (2/2 ref.), Rangel 6 (6/7 ref., 6 blocks), Frankos 14 (8/17 ref., 5 aces, 1 block), Kostopoulos 1 (1/3 ref.) and Hernandez 20 (12/22 ref., 5 aces, 3 bloc