Luxembourg, San Marino book tickets for Final Round

Although sporting a rather young team, with half of the team made up of the players who have just won the Junior Ladies’ SCD European Championships in April, Luxembourg still showed they were superior to all the others, although they were stretched to the full by Iceland in their second match. Young setter Michele Breuer orchestrated her team to the full, and with captain Patricia Noesen providing substance where needed, Luxembourg offered some convincing displays in their route towards first place.

San Marino, on their part, had to battle it out with Malta for the second place, with the match between them lasting no less than 2 hours 22 minutes. With both of them having lost against Luxembourg and won against Iceland and Ireland in the previous days, the match between them on the last day proved to be the thriller of the tournament. Both sets of experience players showed determination to finish in second place, with captains Elisa Parenti (SMR) and Alison Borg (MLT) pushing their team mates to the full. After equalising in the fourth set, the local team managed to open a good lead 8-4 in the fifth one, managing to keep this gap until 11-7. However, San Marino’s fighting spirit and never say die attitude helped them close this disadvantage until they finally won 15-13.

The Maltese national team had started the tournament well, overcoming Ireland in three straight sets in the first match, but then succumbing to a same score defeat against eventual winners Luxembourg. However, they had recovered enough by the second day to face Iceland in another 2 hour+ match. With 21 year old Jona Vigfusdottir continuously grabbing points for the latter, Malta had to use all its experience, with players Carmen Gauci and Gertrude Zarb attacking and blocking at a regular pace. The locals fought out for every point, especially when Iceland managed to turn the result in its favour by winning the second and third sets, after Malta had started on a positive note by winning the first set 25-19. In the final set, Alison Borg once again led her team mates through thick and thin as the set progressed, with the lead changing from one team to the other. Finally, Malta obtained the necessary points to win this final set 16-14, and the match 3-2.

This was only one of the three defeats that Iceland had to yield to during this tournament which finished with a 3-2 score line. Besides stretching Luxembourg to a fifth set, they also lost their match against Ireland with the same score, after having managed to take a 2-0 lead after winning the first two sets in quite a convincing manner. For Ireland, who had lost the first two matches with a 3-0 score, this was a match during which they gave all their very best, fighting for every ball. Ably led by captain Noemi Kuncik on the court, and coach Johann Cardiff on the bench, they managed to crawl up to their opponents set by set, until finally managing to win the last set 15-13, which was enough for them to move away from the last spot.

Results
Friday 11th June 2010
Malta – Ireland 3-0 (25-19, 25-11, 26-24)
Iceland – San Marino 1-3 (25-23, 11-25, 14-25, 18-25)
Luxembourg – Malta 3-0 (25-23, 25-18, 25-16)

Saturday 12th June 2010
Iceland – Luxembourg 2-3 (21-25, 25-18, 21-25, 25-22, 14-16)
San Marino – Ireland 3-0 (25-16, 25-21, 25-18)
Malta – Iceland 3-2 (25-19, 20-25, 19-25, 25-20, 16-14)
Luxembourg – San Marino 3-1 (25-21, 27-25, 18-25, 25-20)

Sunday 13th June 2010
Ireland – Iceland 3-2 (13-25, 21-25, 25-22, 26-24, 15-13)
San Marino – Malta 3-2 (25-16, 22-25, 25-20, 22-25, 15-13)
Ireland – Luxembourg 1-3 (25-18, 18-25, 21-25, 7-25)

Final Standings
Luxembourg 8pts, San Marino 7pts, Malta 6pts, Ireland 5pts, Iceland 4pts.