Conference Cup Men: Apollon star Daube hits nine as Greek sides start campaigns in dominant fashion

CN Posillipo and Endo Plus Service Honved claimed second successive wins in the Men’s Conference Cup Qualification Round II on Friday, both securing comfortable victories over their respective French rivals. Meanwhile, the two Croatian sides were involved in penalty shootouts – VK Mornar Split gained two points, while VK Primorje Erste Bank fell to Georgia’s A-Polo Sport Management. Spain’s CN Tenerife Echeyde staged the comeback of the day, defeating CS Rapid București by three goals after trailing by four early in the third period. Elsewhere, the two Greek teams – Panionios GSS and GS Apollon Smyrnis – started their campaigns in emphatic fashion, with USA star Hannes Daube in sensational form for Apollon against VK Partizan Belgrade, firing in nine goals.
 
2025/26 Conference Cup Men
Qualification Round II, Day 5
Friday 20 February

Group A
(Potsdam, Germany)

VK Partizan Belgrade (SRB) 16-20 GS Apollon Smyrnis (GRE)
OSC Potsdam (GER) 9-21 Panionios GSS (GRE)

The Greek teams enjoyed a great opening day in Potsdam, scoring at least 20 goals apiece. Apollon had a more thrilling match where they beat Partizan in an extremely tough battle with 34 major fouls and 36 goals at the end.

The Serbs took the better start and went 6-4 up in the action-packed first quarter. The Greeks managed to catch them up at 7-7 and levelled it up twice later on to hold on for 9-9 by half-time. Partizan took back the lead twice but Apollon always found the way to reply and after 11-11 they went ahead for the first time, then they could score a quick double in 61 seconds to go 13-15 up and later added one more, though Miljan Dokanovic’s last-gasp hit from the perimeter pulled one back for Partizan – still, the Greeks led 14-16.

And they never let the control slip out of their hands in the fourth, once they reset the three-goal gap at 15-18, with 3:15 to go, there was no way back for the Serbs. They managed to score once more, but Nikolaos Gardikas hit his 5th soon and, quite fittingly, US star Hannes Daube scored the last goal of the match. It was his 9th goal in the game, a truly magnificent performance from the Olympic bronze medallist.

Panionios landed the three points with ease against hosts OSC. The Greeks did a clean job and built a massive 4-11 lead by half-time. The Bitsakos brothers led the charge, Andreas and Konstantinos netted nine goals combined and veteran Alexandros Gounas also hit four to ensure a smooth ride for Panionios.

Group B
(Split, Croatia)

CS Rapid Bucuresti (ROU) 14-17 CN Tenerife Echeyde (ESP)
VK Mornar Split (CRO) 12-12 (7-6P) ZV De Zaan (NED)

Almost three minutes into the third period, Rapid led 10-6 and forced another exclusion and went for a five-goal lead in the first game. They hit the post and Javier Gorria finished off the ensuing counter for Tenerife. It was only one scene, but that altered the path of the match sharply. The Spaniards hit two more in their following two possessions, in a span of 32 seconds, and after a turnover foul was called against the Romanians in their extra, another counter put Tenerife level at 10-10.

Just 39 seconds later, Luis Araya hit another one from action to extend the Spaniards’ devastating run to 0-5 and even though Peter Kari halted Rapid’s sinking with a fine man-up finish, Tom de Weerd scored another one from action for 11-12 with 16 seconds remaining before the last break.

Though Rapid equalised right away in the fourth, again, back-to-back goals in 51 seconds gave a 12-14 advantage to Tenerife. Both sides missed an extra, then the Romanians staged a late surge and Antun Goreta hit two action goals in 44 seconds to make it 14-14 with 1:56 from time.

However, Iker Gonzalez killed their momentum with a fine perimeter shot in the next possession, next they killed a Rapid six-on-five and De Weerd buried Tenerife’s man-up 39 seconds from time.

Rapid failed to create a clean scoring chance and De Weerd sent the ball to their net with 0:11 on the clock – indeed, after 10-6, Tenerife came up with a monstrous 4-11 rush to bag all three points.

The other match produced even more excitement. Hosts Mornar managed to score three action goals in a row deep into the second period to lead 6-4 and held that gap three minutes into the third at 8-6 when De Zaan netted two in 53 seconds and added another one a minute later, so the Dutch led 8-9 after three periods. And Andras Garancsy caused more trouble for the hosts as he could score two more from action and with 5:15 from time, De Zaan led 8-11.

It was a wake-up call for the Croats, who pulled one back from an extra, then, after a turnover foul, they scored another one in 21 seconds to reduce the deficit to a single goal with 4:05 on the clock at 10-11.

De Zaan missed a six-on-five, soon a six-on-four, but then, 48 seconds from time, Thomas Lucas doubled their lead from a counter. The hosts went all in and Duje Akrap sent the ball home with 33 seconds to go and after the Dutch burned their 28sec, the Croats had a last chance after a time-out. And they made it, Robert Stojanac fired in the equaliser with 0:02 on the clock.

The shootout began with a missed attempt apiece, then the next six rounds saw only goals before Marin Kordic delivered the two-pointer save for Mornar.

Group C
(Montpellier, France)

A-Polo Sport Management (GEO) 13-13 (10-9P) VK Primorje Erste Bank (CRO)
Montpellier Water Polo (FRA) 8-18 Endo Plus Service Honved (HUN)

Georgia’s new star team, A-Polo SM, were part of another thrilling match which, just like their opening tie against Honved on Day 1, ended in a shootout, but this time they came out on top to win the two points. It was a true battle, after a balanced first half, which saw the Georgians take a 5-4 lead, the Croats came back strong and hit as many goals in four minutes as in the entire first half to go 6-8 up.

Approaching the last break, Irakli Razmadze stopped a crucial penalty at 8-9 which would have reset the two-goal gap – instead, the Georgians hit two action goals right away in the fourth to retake the lead at 10-9.

After an exchange of two action goals, Len Dujmic hit back-to-back goals from the centre in 54 seconds to nudge Primorje ahead once more. Dragoljub Rogac netted his fourth in a dying extra for 12-12, but Marnick Snel put away a six-on-five with 1:30 on the clock.

Soon, Primorje had a match-ball, another man-up after a time-out, but missed it and there came Denes Varga, who didn’t show any of his magic in this match, but hit the equaliser with 0:05 on the clock to save the game to a shootout.

A day earlier it was Varga who missed the decisive penalty against Honved, now he buried both his shots and Razmadze delivered the winning save in the 10th round.

Honved enjoyed an easy cruise against Montpellier. They set the tone with a 0-4 rush and with Gergely Szepfalvi’s centre shot with 0:01 on the clock they held on for 1-5 after eight minutes.

Though the French also found the way to score more, the Hungarians never had any hardship to outplay their defence and their stamina also prevailed in the second half as they could double the gap by the end of the game.

Group D
(Naples, Italy)

BVK Crvena Zvezda (SRB) 7-9 Solartradex CN Mataro (ESP)
CN Posillipo (ITA) 14-9 Sete Natation (FRA)

After winning a thrilling shootout against Sete on the opening day, Crvena Zvezda faced another mountain to climb, a game against Mataro.

It couldn’t have been harder for the Serbs, who had only nine players on board – financial problems are ruining their season – as they met a team with rested players as the Spaniards didn’t play on Thursday.

Still, the first half was an outstanding battle with brilliant defending, both sides killed successive man-downs, Mataro’s Maltese goalie Jake Tanti stopped two penalties, still, Petar Kasum’s action goal gave Zvezda a 2-1 lead at half-time.

More six-on-fives were wasted before Eudald Flaque equalised from action, then the Serbs came up with a double, but the Spaniards also hit two in succession for 4-4, still, Marko Radovic gave back the lead to Zvezda with 0:03 on the clock.

The Serbs, understandably, were running out of steam and Mataro could stage a 0-3 run in the first four minutes.

Radovic pulled one back, but Gerard Gil replied right away for 6-8. The following two minutes brought more battling, then Aleksandar Radanovic converted an extra, but again, the response came from the next possession as Gil buried Mataro’s man-up too to seal a fine win for the Spaniards.

Hosts Posillipo stormed to a 3-0 lead in four minutes and carried on their great start to build a massive 9-2 lead with 2:50 to go till half-time.

From that point, the Italians somewhat slowed down and took care of managing their substantial advantage, which they did with ease to claim another five-goal victory after their opening-day 13-8 triumph over Dinamo Tbilisi.

Watch all the Conference Cup action live on European Aquatics TV

For full Conference Cup Men results, stats and tables, click here.

Stay tuned to the European Aquatics Water Polo social media accounts for more news and live updates on Facebook and Instagram

Gergely Csurka for European Aquatics

The post Conference Cup Men: Apollon star Daube hits nine as Greek sides start campaigns in dominant fashion first appeared on European Aquatics®.