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Outside attacker Sotiris Siapanis once again had the top offensive performance for Cyprus in a loss.
The Ohio State freshman had a team-high nine kills as Cyprus lost to the Republic of Moldova 25-22, 25-22, 25-22 on Monday in Nicosia, Cyprus at the CEV 2021 EuroVolley qualification tournament.
This was the second consecutive match that Siapanis led Cyprus in kills. He also had 17 kills while hitting .419 in the host nation’s tournament-opening loss to Spain on Monday.
Siapanis against the Republic of Moldova, though, was limited to a .130 attack percentage.
The Republic of Moldova in its first win of the tournament out-hit Cyprus .159 to .106, including holding Cyprus to a zero attack percentage in the opening game.
Despite the loss, Cyprus finished with 14 blocks — five more blocks than the Republic of Moldova. Christos Prodromou finished with a team-high four blocks, while Siapanis added three blocks.
Siapanis to go along with his offensive and defensive performances had Cyprus’ only ace of the match.
The Republic of Moldova following this victory will play first-place Spain to close out the first half of the tournament’s double round-robin format.
Spain defeated Latvia in four games on Monday in a match-up of the two remaining undefeated teams at the four-team event. NJIT outside attacker Alvaro Gimeno came off the bench in the fourth game of the victory.
Cyprus and Latvia also will play each other on Tuesday.