At the end of the weekend, packed with gold-medal matches in the national championships all over Europe, the Greek League playoff final started. Olympiacos made a new step towards the new title, beating Vouliagmeni 9:6 in the first game of the best-of-five series.
Olympacos led throughout the match but secured the win only in the dying minutes.
The Red-Whites from Piraeus took an early 2:0 lead. Vouliagmeni struggled offensively during the first half. Olympiacos controlled the match and increased the margin to three (4:1) deep into the second period. But Vouliagmeni netted two goals in the 16th minute, so Olympiacos had a slim advantage at halftime, 4:3.
The teams traded goals in the second half. Olympiacos doubled its advantage several times, but Vouliagmeni chased the hosts and halved the deficit thrice. Two minutes before the final buzzer, Olympacos was one step ahead, 7:6. An exciting finish was in sight. Still, Olympacos didn’t let its rival equalize. A minute and a half before the end, Kakaris converted a man-up to make it 8:6. Gkillas set the final score from a counterattack six seconds from time.
2025 Greek League playoffs
Final (best of five), Match 1
Olympiacos – Vouliagmeni 9:6 (2:1, 2:2, 2:1, 3:2)
Olympiacos: Zalanki 3, Kakaris 2, Gkillas 1, Genidounias 1, Fountoulis 1, Alafragkis 1.
Vouliagmeni: Spahits 2, Kastrinakis 1, Chatzis 1, Chalyvopoulos 1, Kalogeropoulos 1.
Third-place playoffs (best of three), Match 1
Panathinaikos – Apollon Smyrnis 14:13 (4:3, 3:3, 3:3, 4:4)
Fifth-place playoffs (one match)
Panionios – PAOK 15:8 (4:2, 4:3, 4:2, 3:1)
Panionios won 5th place
