Valletta Mapei secured another title in their history when they managed to beat Aloysians 3-1 in the second match from the final series of the Men’s Volleyball League playoffs, thus winning the second match from a best out of three series. This meant that Valletta Mapei managed to win this year’s championship after staying undefeated throughout the whole season. Aloysians started the second match against Valletta knowing that they had to improve on their level of volleyball shown in the first match. In the first set they managed just that, and although Valletta played very well, Aloysians managed to keep the momentum in their favour and win the first set 26-24.

However, Valletta wanted to close off the championship race as quickly as possible, and they managed to overturn the game in their favour by winning the next three sets 25-17, 25-21, 25-17 in a match that lasted 1 hour 46 minutes. This was Valletta’s thirteenth win during this season, nine of which came in the regular season, and the other four in the playoffs. Six of these matches were won with a 3-0 score line, whilst in the other seven matches Valletta lost a set to their opponents. However, no team managed to stretch Valletta to a fifth set, with the latter winning a total of 39 sets and losing just seven throughout the whole season.

Player-coach Goffredo Guazzoni had an interesting mix of local experienced and some young foreigners on which to base his team. Josef Pirotta, Owen Spiteri and occasionally Mark Soler played in the setter’s role, with Paul Tonna and Aaron Stivala taking the opposite’s role, although they were also used in other roles throughout the season. In the middle, Jonathan Chetcuti and Kevin Marembert used all their experience when attacking and blocking, whilst outside hitters Robert Balzan and Wojciech Stellmach were the offensive terminals gaining a number of points for their team. Experienced libero Vince Pace also had another strong season, whilst Filip Szewczyk and Reuben Vella were always ready to come in and help their team mates when needed.

Roll of Honour – Men’s Volleyball League

2007-2008: Marsascala Mapei

2008-2009: Valletta Mapei

2009-2010: Valletta Mapei

2010-2011: Valletta San Antonio

2011-2012: Valletta San Antonio

2012-2013: Fleur de Lys Office Group

2013-2014: Fleur de Lys Office Group

2015-2016: Valletta Mapei