In the senior league, the semi finals of the playoffs got underway last week at the Cottonera Sports Complex. In the men’s category, the first rounds were played with Aloysians Lipton and Kerygma registering wins against Aloysians Reds and Fleur de Lys respectively.

In the ladies category, both legs were played last weekend with Playvolley Blue and Paola Hibs Candy qualifying for the finals. In the under 18 finals, Flyers lifted the championship trophy when these beat Paola Hibs 2-0.

In the men’s league, Aloysians Lipton had little opposition when they faced their younger Reds team. Matthew Cumbo, Kris Croker and Ian Wright having good performances for the Reds but Lipton gave a good performance with Ron Stivala attacking well and a solid defence headed by Mauro Busuttil. Lipton are now favorites to accede to the playoff finals.

Kerygma beat Fleur de Lys with national team player Robert Balzan in one of his best performances this season. Fleur de Lys did their utmost but were clearly in difficulty during most of the match as Kerygma played a more organised and better volleyball, committing less mistakes.

Kerygma won the match 3-1 and this puts them with a foot in the finals and are poised to meet Aloysians Lipton.

In the ladies category, Blue won both matches against Flyers with Maria Demicoli giving a good performance for the Blues. The first match was a delight to watch with both teams playing good volleyball and ended up in a tie break with Playvolley winning the final set 15-13.

On Sunday, the second match was played and this time, Alan Gauci’s team were visibly superior to their opponents. Playvolley Blue won this match 3-1 and booked their place in the finals.

The second match to be played last weekend was between Paola Hibs Candy and X-Sel. Hibs gave their usual solid performance with Carmen Gauci and Alison Borg Hayman winning precious points from the central attacking position.

X-Sel saw Catherine Attard back in play but they could not react to Hibs strong attacks. Hibs won both matches 3-1 and 3-0. Hibs will face Playvolley Blue in a best out of three matches for the national league winner’s trophy.

In the under 18 category, the girls final was played last weekend with Paola Hibs and Flyers battling it out for the title. Paola had a good start to the first set by winning a 6 point lead.

However, Flyers settled down and fought back through good spikes by Martha Curmi and Luana Bugeja. Flyers won the first set 25-20. The second set was a different story as Flyers played with more confidence and these overpowered their less experienced opponents.

Hibs could not react and lost the second and final set. Flyers were crowned ladies under 18 champions with the trophy being presented to the Flyers captain by Mr. Joe Casha, Chairperson for the Junior Commission in the presence of Silvan Gauci, coach for Junior Boys Preparation programme.