Valletta Mapei chalked up their seventh win of the season to open a five-point lead over Sliema at the top of the men's league while Flyers Depiro produced another high-quality performance to beat Fleur de Lys 3-0 in the women's league.

Valletta moved a step closer to the championship thanks to another fine showing against Sliema who went down 1-3 (18-25, 10-25, 25-22, 10-25).

Sliema tried hard, mainly through Matthew Cumbo's fine sets and good defending, and Paul Vella and Chris Pecorella's attacks, but found a solid Valletta side in their way with Dalton Caruana and Paul Tonna blocking their efforts and Vince Pace defending well in the libero role.

Valletta deservedly claimed the opening two sets. In the third, Sliema took advantage of their opponents' mistakes and with David Caruana helping out in defence and attack, they won the set to stay in the game.

That partial upset failed to shake Valletta's confidence as the leaders dominated the fourth set to secure victory.

Flyers beat Fleur de Lys for the third consecutive time this season.

Last weekend, Depiro won 3-0 (25-11, 25-23, 25-13) to maintain their challenge in the play-offs.

Depiro showed their supremacy from the start, basing their play on a stout defence and quality attacks.

Fleur de Lys made Flyers fight hard for every point in the second but four effective services by Dorianne Bonnici helped her team to overpower their opponents and win the set 25-23.

With Fleur de Lys rattled, Depiro took just 20 minutes to wrap up the third set, 25-13.

Standings

Men's League: Valletta Mapei 21, Sliema 16, Defenders Aloysians 7.

Women's League: Flyers Depiro 16, Paola 13, Fleur de Lys 12.

Relegation play-offs: Playvolley Stars 12; Southend 8; Playvolley Galaxy 6.