PAOK Thessaloniki allowed a comeback at home and lost 2:3 sets to the Ukrainian Epicentr-Podolyany (Horodok), but this did not prevent the Greeks from advancing to the 1/4 finals of the tournament.

The return match at "PAOK Palace Sport" hall in Thessaloniki lasted 112 minutes and finished 2:3 (21:25, 25:21, 25:21, 23:25, 7:15), with the guests securing a prestige victory, but failing to compensate for their deficit from the first leg.

In the first match, played on 22/01/2026 in "Dvorana Tabor" in Maribor, PAOK convincingly won 3:0 (25:18, 25:21, 25:22) in just 68 minutes. This result put the Ukrainians in a very difficult position, as to advance, they had to win the return leg 3:0 or 3:1 and take the additional "golden set".

Two won sets were enough for PAOK.

The Greek team achieved the most important thing in the return leg " they won the second and third sets and secured the necessary two sets, officially ensuring their place among the top 8.

After that, the Ukrainians did not give up, showed character, and achieved a 3:2 victory, dominating the tie-break.

Bulgarian middle blocker Nikolay Kolev finished with 6 points, recording +5 in efficiency, 1 ace, and 56% attack success rate.

The top scorer for PAOK was Hernandez with 13 points.

For Epicentr-Podolyany, the top scorers were:

• Urivkin 18 points

• Luban 14 points

However, the Ukrainians "only" achieved a victory for self-confidence, because qualification was already tipped in favor of PAOK after their clean sweep in the first match.

In the 1/4 finals, PAOK will face Belgian Lindemans Aalst, with the Flemish team hosting the first match.

photos: cev.eu