Last Thursday, the men’s volleyball crowned a new winner of the state cup (Maccabi Tel Aviv), and tonight (Saturday) the decisive stage in the league also began – with the playoff quarterfinal series. Hapoel Mate Asher / Acre, the reigning champion, gained a 0: 1 advantage over Maccabi Hod Hasharon, and Hapoel HaMaapil / Menashe / Emek Hefer gained an advantage in the series against Hapoel Urbani Kiryat Ata.
Hapoel Mate Asher / Acre – Maccabi Hod Hasharon 0: 3 (27:29, 24:26, 14:26)
The champion opened the playoffs in a not-so-simple game, but eventually extended the league streak without a loss to four. Stas Nabiadomsky, Alex Osokin and Kevin Foyer led the Reds with 15, 12 and 11 points respectively. The team finished with 77% on receipt and 45% on offense, blocked 12 balls (4 of them from Jan Sol), scored 7 aces and made 24 overall errors per game (10 on refusal, 3 on receipt and 11 on offense).
Hapoel HaMa’apil / Menashe / Emek Hefer – Hapoel Urbani Kiryat Ata 0: 3 (21:25, 26:28, 30:32)
A fascinating game at the Menashe Municipal Sports Center. The first set was close and went to the illegal immigrant – but that was just the trailer for the next two sets. In the third, one of the closest seen this year in the league, the qualifier missed no less than five battle points during the tiebreaker, but eventually completed the task with 30:32.
Misha Wolinski and Galirmo Garcia led the Maapil / Menashe / Emek Hefer with 22 and 16 points respectively. The team reception percentage was 51, and the attack percentage was 56. The host also blocked 4 balls, scored 3 aces and finished with 17 general errors in the game (9 in the refusal, 3 in the reception and 5 in the attack).