Beattie leads the way to bronze medal in Malta

VOLLEYBALL: Scotland women missed the chance to progress in the World Championships after finishing third in their qualifying group in Cospicua, Malta, but there was the consolation of a bronze medal as the competition doubled at the finals of the European Championships Small Countries Division. Craig Faill’s side had to play two matches on the closing day and they troubled eventual qualifiers Cyprus in their first match before going down 22-25, 25-16, 22-25, 21-25.

Scotland bounced back to beat Malta in their final match last night 25-22, 25-19, 26,-24 with Great Britain captain Lynne Beattie top-scoring with 14 points and also finishing the match as best spiker and best server. In fact, Beattie finished third top scorer across all the first round qualifying groups with a total of 54 points.

Scotland’s qualification hopes were severely damaged by a 20-25, 17-25, 19-25, defeat by San Marino, who clinched second place in the group with a narrow 25-20, 26-28, 25-14, 18-25, 15-11 win over Luxembourg.