The men’s and women’s beach volley teams met their Sicilian counterparts in the Mediterra-nean Friendship Games in Golden Bay on Saturday.
Represented by two teams, only the games played by Teams A were taken into consideration for the final standings.
Malta’s men’s Team A won their game 2-0 but Team B were beaten 2-1. In the women’s tournament, it was Malta B who emerged victorious 2-1 with the Sicilians getting the better of Team A to win the game 2-1.
The tournament referees were Frankie Tanti and Marvic Micallef.
In the main match from the men’s tournament, Robert Balzan and Paul Vella (Malta A) recovered from a slow start to go neck-and-neck with Franco Torregiano and Enrico Culla up to 21-21 for a tie-break.
Here, well-placed spikes down the lines secured the first set for the Maltese duo, 23-21.
Torregiano and Culla dictated matters throughout the second set. They took a four-point lead which they maintained and increased, looking like they were going to force a deciding third set.
The Maltese, however, managed to turn the tables on their opponents, with Balzan showing his true potential at the net. With the Sicilians leading 20-14, Malta A clawed back to level and win the set 22-20 and the game 2-0.
Malta B, composed of Gordon Cachia and Paul Tonna, combined perfectly against Torregiano and Culla and went off to a win the first set 21-19.
The Sicilians stepped up a gear and levelled matters with a 21-17 set win to force a third set.
The decider turned out to be a nail-biting affair. Eventually the CONI Sicilia duo succeeded in wrapping it up 16-14 after Cachia and Tonna had fought hard to get back in the reckoning.
In the women’s tournament, Malta A, Alison Borg and Gertrude Zarb, put up a strong showing against Chiara Ferro and Mary Impiccicche despite struggling with niggling injuries.
In the opening set, Ferro and Impiccicche showed great understanding in their play, forcing the hosts to a number of mistakes in reception before claiming the opening set 21-16.
Borg and Zarb failed to throw in the towel though and fought back admirably. Their efforts paid off as they forced a decider after a 21-13 set win.
However, injuries took their toll in the third set as the Maltese players could not keep the momentum going, the Sicilians cruising to a 15-10 win to wrap up the match.
Malta B, composed of Maria Demicoli and Lindsay Cordina, were fired up for their game against the Sicilians and combined good receiving skills and well-placed spikes to claim the opening set 21-14.
The Sicilians again fought back strongly to level the match when winning the second set 21-17.
However, in the decider Demicoli and Cordina started to leave their mark with more determined play. They wrapped up the set 15-12 and the game 2-1.
Even if this result had no effect on the final standings, the Maltese girls showed they were no pushovers and even if it is too early for decisions to be taken, they have the Liechtenstein GSSE well in their sight.