Luxembourg, March 3, 2020.  Olympiacos Piraeus became the first team to advance to the semifinals of this year’s European Cups. The Greek standout did so after knocking out Swietelsky Bekescsaba in the quarterfinals of the women’s CEV Volleyball Challenge Cup 2020.

Having won the first-leg game in Hungary in four sets, Olympiacos won the first two sets of the re-match at home before allowing the squad from Bekescsaba to come up with a 3-2 (17-25, 17-25, 25-20, 25-21, 15-9) win.

Olympiacos clearly dominated the first set. Showing superiority at the net, the home side quickly broke away in the score and cruised comfortably to a 25-17 close. The second set started better for the Hungarian team and they opened an early four-point lead. After 9-6 Swietelsky’s way, however, the Greeks scored eight points in a row, with German opposite Saskia Hippe (pictured) behind the serving line, to regain control on the way to another 25-17 win. At that point, Olympiacos had already secured their spot in the semifinals and Branko Kovacevic made some changes to his line-up. Eager to exit the tournament with a victory, Swietelsky took advantage and won the next three sets, each by a solid margin.

Swietelsky’s Spanish opposite Milagros Collar contributed the match high of 21 points, followed by her Croatian teammate Karla Klaric on a tally of 18 points.

In the semifinals, Olympiacos will meet the winner of the quarterfinal series between France’s Beziers VB and Germany’s Ladies in Black Aachen, which will become known on Wednesday.


For more info, go to the CEV Challenge Cup 2020 section.