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Last week saw the start of the friendly matches organised by the Malta Volleyball Association between the Maltese national teams and two Italian club teams who held their training camps in Malta. The Italian teams that particiapated were Planet Volley Pedara, who play in Serie C in the female Italian league and Virtus Potenza who play in the mens Serie B league. All matches were played at the Cottonera Sports Complex.
In the ladies category, the Maltese were unlucky to lose all three matches. One easily noted the improvement in the quality of play between each game. The ladies lost the first two matches with the identical score of 3-1 whilst lost a close third game 3-2.
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Planet Volley Pedara play in the Italian league and beat the Malta national team due to better team work through the years playing together. Alison Borg Hayman (Paola Hibs Candy) and Belinda Milton (X-Sel) were the two Malta players that gave excellent performances, whilst in defence, Lindsey Cordina (Flyers) gave a good contribution when she played in the libero position.
During the final match, the Maltese were leading 2-1 with Belinda Milton scoring a number of valuable points, but a more expericened Italian side managed to win the 4th and 5th set to end the match at 3-2. The female national coach, Elizabeth Mariani gave the opportunity to her players to contribute to the games in order to gain international experience.
In the mens category the Maltese under national coach Mark Hili where in a totally different situation. They managed to win all three matches against the Italian club, all with a score of 3-0. Paul Vella (Aloysians Liption) and Robert Balzan (Kerygma) where the two players that contributed most to the Maltese side.
Setters Patrick Bonett and Josef Pirotta too had a number of good stances. Mark Hili made full use of the opportunity to give his players the experience required by giving them time on court; experience which will surely come in handy in future international matches. During the matches, one could note a number of 'combination' schemes between Paul Vella and Jonathan Chetcuti which were instrumental in helping the team build the required confidence.
In a local perspective, national leagues start again on January 6, 2007 after a two week Christmas break. Paola Hibs Candy will be facing X-Sel and Playvolley Blues meet Flyers on Saturday while on Sunday, Kerygma face Alosyians Whites and Fleur de Lys play against Aloysians Reds.
In the only ladies senior match that took place this weekend, X-Sel beat Kerygma 3-0.
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