SPMC and St Martin’s College triumph at Year 9&10 Finals in Malta

It was a great week of school volleyball that brought an end to this year’s school tournaments and festivals in Malta. 

Following the four qualifying rounds for Year 9&10 students played on four different days back in February and March, the eight finalists in both the boys’ and girls’ tournaments met again on Tuesday, April 16, at the Cottonera Sports Complex, just two days after Malta’s U18 triumph in the CEV SCA U18 Championship 2024. 
 
The eight qualified teams for the finals, from the starting 23, were MRC Mosta Lily Secondary, Savio College, St Martin’s College and St Paul’s Missionary College (SPMC) in the boys’ category. St Monica B’Kara, San Andrea School, St Martin’s College and QSI International School Mosta had qualified in the girls’ category. 
 
The four teams in each category played in a round-robin format and the games were contested on a best out of three sets on 15 points. 

The champions in the boys’ category were SPMC who won the competition on the direct encounter rule, as they finished on same points as Savio College. On the other hand, the girls’ category was won by St Martin’s College who won all their games, including the decisive match against QSI International School. Both final matches went down to the wire as they ended 15-12 in the third and final set. At the end of the event, medals were awarded to the winning teams.
 
A merited applause was given to two of the players, Alessia Pace from St Monica School B’Kara and Leah Buhagiar from San Andrea School, who formed part of Malta’s winning gold medal team the weekend before. They proudly displayed the trophy before the start of the event. 

The last event for this scholastic year which formed part of the CEV School Project organised by the Malta Volleyball Association in collaboration with the Education Department and SportMalta was held two days later when 11 schools were present for the Year 7&8 Festival. 

A record 40 teams went on court in 3v3 matches played on seven courts. The schools present were Savio College, STMC Zejtun Secondary, STC Ta’ Paris MS, STMC Tarxien MS, St Monica B’Kara, SNC Rabat MS, MRC Naxxar MS, Verdala International School, SBC Kirkop MS, QSI International School and St Martin’s College.
 
This was a fantastic and encouraging end as all numbers of participating schools were improved this scholastic year in all events. Year 9&10 participation saw an increase of 35% overall, with fantastic double numbers in the girls’ category. The same occurred in the Year 7&8 event when the number of participants went up from seven to 11, thus accounting for an increase of 57% over the previous year.