In a full weekend of volleyball at the Cottonera Sports Complex, Depiro Flyers inflicted the first defeat on Paola Hibs for many a season to join them at the top of the standings and make a solid claim for the silverware in the women’s league.
In the men’s league, Valletta San Antonio found no difficulties in getting the better of Mġarr and keep their place in pole position.
Depiro beat Hibs 3-2 (25-22, 25-19, 23-25, 18-25, 16-14) in a tense match which lasted 138 minutes.
Depiro started very strongly and their services put their opponents under great pressure, making it difficult for Hibs to build up any form of attack. Clearly, the Paolites were sorely missing the services of captain Alison Borg who was out injured.
Depiro won the first set and despite upping their game sig-nificantly Hibs were unable to break the dominance of their rivals who kept composure, committing very little mistakes to clinch the second set as well.
Hibs, however, effected some tactical changes at the start of the third set to try and minimise the effect of their captain’s absence. They shifted their middle spiker, the experienced Carmen Gauci, as an outside spiker and introduced young Leanne Spiteri in mid-court.
This move made the Paola team look more stable in service reception and defence.
Soon, they started clawing their way back into the game, going on to win the third and fourth sets, doing most of the damage to Depiro from outside attacks.
After over two hours, both teams were level at 2-2.
The fifth set could be described as a picture of the whole game with Depiro racing to a 14-9 advantage as Hibs again lowered their guard from service.
However, the Paolites’ never-say-die attitude saw them back to level terms at 14-14. Then, Amanda Agius came to the fore for Depiro who succeeded in closing the match at 16-14 to the delight of their coach Carmel Gauci and mentor Stephen Buttigieg.
Valletta beat Mġarr 3-0 (25-8, 25-15, 25-20) and in another men’s league match Aloysians had the better of Fleur de Lys 3-0 (25-20, 25-10, 29-27) to stay in contention for the league title.
Fleur de Lys showed good defensive play through their libero and cushioned Aloysians’ spikes with their block. Aloysians seemed to slow down after leading 2-0 and allowed FDL to get back into the game. However, the latter missed the chance to take the third set.
Women’s league
Klikk Southend vs PlayVolley Galaxy 3-0 (27-25, 25-9, 25-15); Birkirkara vs Paola U-18 3-2 (25-14, 16-25, 25-19, 24-26, 15-12).