The Greek power of Olympiacos opened the first round of the semi-finals of the 2018 CEV Volleyball Challenge Cup - Men with a great success vs their well-known opponent of Gazprom-Ugra SURGUT.  The players around head coach Fernando Muñoz Benitez were “on fire” and took a 3-0 win, not allowing the home team to take control of the game at any time. Aleksiev and Oivanen from Olympiacos PIRAEUS were the best scorers of the match with 13 points to their names.

Key action: 

The ‘’Reds’’ were very concentrated in the first sit. They reached 4-1 with the points of Aleksiev and Oivanen but the Russians reduced to 4-5. Olympiacos went ahead with 8-6 in the first technical timeout. Surgut tied 10-10 and 13-13. Then, Olympiacos preceded with 16-14 after the points of Drzyzga and Petreas. The Greek team retained the control and increased the lead to +4 (16-20). The Russians tried to reduce but Bohme, Petreas and Aleksiev scored to win the first set (21-25). 

Olympiacos remained serious in the second set and took the lead in the two technical timeouts (6-8, 14-16). The ‘’Reds’’ increased the margin to +4 (17-21, 19-23). Aleksiev scored for 20-24 and Rauwerdink did 25-21 giving the second set to our team. 

The ‘’Legend’’ went ahead with 8-5 in the first technical timeout of the third set. Two consecutive points by Bohme widened the margin to +5 (5-10). The Greek team kept this margin (8-13) and increased it to +6 in the second technical timeout. It continued the great offensive performance and reached 16-23. The Russian team tried to react and reduced to 19-24 but Petreas secured the victory for Olympiacos in Russia. 

Match stats: 

The sets: 0-3: 21-25 (28'), 21-25 (28'), 19-25 (25')

1st set: 6-8, 14-16, 19-21, 21-25

2nd set: 6-8, 14-16, 17-21, 21-25

3rd set: 5-8, 10-16, 14-21, 19-25

Statistics: 

Gazprom-Ugra SURGUT: Ignatyev 1 (1 block), Krsmanovic 8 (8/16), Chefranov 4 (4/8 attacks), Ursov 7 (6/13 attacks, 1 ace, 45% pos – 36% exc.), Ivanov 6 (5/9 attacks, 1 block, 50% pos – 33% exc.), Safoafonov 3 (2/5 attacks), Andreev (L, 43% pos – 30% exc.), Platonov 2 (2/5 attacks, 57% pos – 14% exc.), Bjelica, Khabibullin 2 (1/1 attack, 1 block)

Olympiacos (Munoz Benitez Fernando): Oivanen 13 (11/21 attacks, 2 blocks), Petreas 8 (6/7 attacks, 2 blocks), Bohme 8 (7/10 attacks, 1 block), Drzyzga 2 (2/2 attacks), Aleksiev 13 (12/20 attacks, 1 ace, 50% pos-38% exc.), Rauwerdink 10 (10/15 attacks, 40% pos-40% exc.), Stefanou (L, 23% pos-23% exc.), Daridis (L), Zoupani, Stivachtis

Quotes: 

Benitez said: ‘’I am very happy with our tonight performance. We were very concentrated and good on the serve and attack. We had the game under control and got a very good result. We did the first step and have to be serious in the rematch to qualify to the final. It will be a historical opportunity as we will qualify to a European final after years. We need the support of our fans as the Russian team is very experienced.’’