Greece back on track after sweep of Austria
Piraeus, Greece, June 1, 2019 - Greece are back in the race for a ticket to the final of the 2019 Men's European Silver League, after a convincing 3-0 (27-25, 25-21, 25-13) sweep of Austria Saturday evening in the Piraeus suburb of Rentis.
The result brings the two contenders for top spot in Pool A tied at the top of the table on wins (2-1) and points (6), but Greece enjoy an ever so slight advantage over Austria in sets (7-4 to 6-4).
Despite the clear win, Greece had to fend off two Austrian set points at 22-24 and 23-24 in the first set, which could, at the end of the competition, prove the deciding moment of the season.
As usual, Nikos Zoupani led Greece on 16 points, with Alexandros Raptis adding another 12. A solid reception from the home side allowed setter Dmytro Filippov to effectively spread the play.
The home side overcame Austria's blocking (6 stuffs to just 2) with more efficient attacking (53% to only 42%) and took advantage of the visitors' as many as 31 unforced errors.
Nicolai Grabmuller was Austria's best scorer with 10 points.
"We made it look easy, but it wasn't," said Greece middle blocker Giorgos Petreas. "Austria are also qualified to the European Championship and have some very high-level players. But we are a strong team and and after all our absentees return we will show what we can truly do."
Greece next travel to Hungary, before playing back-to-back games against Bosnia & Herzegovina at home and away. Austria host Bosnia & Herzegovina and Hungary, before closing pool play in Budapest against Hungary.
