A total of six senior volleyball matches were played over the weekend so that Valletta and Flyers Depiro now head the men’s and females First Divisions respectively. In the Ladies second Division, Tatara Rabat and B’Kara Playvolley lead the table with equal set differences when Rabat beat Flyers U-18 and B’Kara beat Playvolley School.
Men’s Division I
Valletta San Antonio 3
Attard 0
(25-11, 25-18, 25-21)
Despite having a number of established players missing, namely Dalton Caruana, Owen Spiteri and Karl Meilaq Brunetti, but welcoming back setter Josef Pirotta, Valletta took just under one hour to get the better of Attard, who desperately missed the services of Patrick Felice Pace.
The first set was a balanced affair until the halfway mark, with Valletta building a three-point lead at 14-11 thanks to some good attacking by Robert Balzan and Manuel Raffa, Valletta’s central player Keith Mifsud served no less than 11 times to give his team a 1-0 lead.
In the second set Valletta opted for a slightly different formation, with Reuben Vella being given the nod to start in the first six.
Attard played at par with their opponents in the first part of the set until Valleta built a comfortable six-point lead just before the second technical time out thanks to the influential Paul Tonna and Vella.
With Keith Mifsud and Jonathan Chetcuti playing an important role in blocking their opponents’ attack and inflicting the damage from the middle, the Valletta players kept the lead to take the second set 25-18.
Attard started off strongly in the third set, building a 5-2 lead, as Valletta faltered in reception. Vince Pace took over the Reds’ rearguard and Valletta were back in the set, with youngster Stephen Riolo distinguishing himself in attack and also in defence.
Attard managed to keep a slight advantage before Valletta turned the tables on their opponents in the latter part of the set to win it 25-21 and keep a clean sheet in this year’s First Division campaign and remain at the top of the standings.
Aloysians 3
FDL 0
(25-21; 25-20;25-22)
Aloysians obtained their second 3-0 win of the season with a close win over FDL.
Their strong attacks and blocking from the middle position, mainly through Aaron Stivala, always gave them an edge over FDL’s team and despite some powerful attacks from FDL’s Paul Vella, Aloysians managed to neutralise their opponents with good blocking and defence.
In the third set FDL were determined to get back into the game but Aloysians took advantage of their unforced errors to wrap up the game without hesitation.
Ladies Division I
Flyers 2 0
Flyers Depiro 3
In a match that lasted just over an hour, Flyers Depiro had no major problems in disposing of the younger Flyers 2 team.
The club this year decided to field two teams in the first division league as this would give the much needed experience to their younger players.
Throughout the three sets, surprisingly it was always Flyers 2 who took the lead earlier on with Depiro having to struggle to gain points. However, an excellent performance throughout the game by A. Attard helped Depiro overcome all challenges and cruise to a comfortable win.
Other results
Ladies 2nd Division: Flyers U-18-Tatara Rabat 1-3 (20-25;18-25; 25-23; 17-25); B’kara Play Volley vs PV School 3-0 (25-8; 25-10;25-5); Paola U’18 vs TGIF: 3-0 (25-22; 25-20; 25-22)
U-15 females: Flyers 2 vs Phoenix Pavi SouthEnd: 2- 0 ( 25- 9; 25-15); Flyers 3 vs PlayVolley: 2 -1 (20 -25; 25-18; 15-9); Fleur de Lys vs Paola: 0 - 2 (12-25 ; 15 -25); TGIF vs Flyers: 0-2 (12-25; 9-25).