MaltaMedia.com

After winning the League Championship for the seventh time, Paola Hibs Candy repeated themselves in the Fr. Tony Parnis National Cup, beating Flyers Depiro in the first two matches out of a three match series. The latter played much better and offered a better resistance to the champions in the first match, but in the second one Paola Hibs Candy were completely superior.

Paola started the first match in the same way they finished the league, taking Flyers Depiro by storm and not conceding anything extra to the opponents. In fact the first two sets were all in favour of Paola, and with Flyers Depiro still very unsettled, the managed to win them 25-14 and 25-18 without much difficulty. Flyers worked much harder in the third set, staying very close to their opponents, until taking a slight lead at the end of the set. This they kept until the very end, however Paola’s comeback saw them equalise at 24-24. With neither team managing to overcome its adversary, the two teams stayed neck to neck until finally Flyers Depiro managed to close this set 28-26 in their favour. However, an inspirational Tiziana Bonnici immediately led Paola’s attackers to gain considerable ground in the fourth set. Flyers did not manage to find an answer to these attacks, and Hibs Candy wrapped the first match easily by winning the fourth set 25-15, and the match 3-1.

Following Flyers Depiro’s commendable showing the day before, much more was expected from them in the second match. But Paola’s experience played in their favour, and with Alison Borg, Carmen Cortis and Gertrude Zarb hammering down, it was soon over. Depiro’s coach, Charles Gauci, tried to spur his players as much as he could, but the lack of depth within his own bench did not provide him with substitutes capable of turning the match around. On the other hand, David Bonnici wanted to wrap up this final series as quickly as possible, and he made sure of this, encouraging his players on every ball until the final whistle. Paola Hibs Candy won 3-0 (25-16, 25-16, 25-13) in 1 hour 17 minutes and the final series 2-0.