CREAMLINE put on a show before adoring fans in Cagayan de Oro, dealing PLDT an emphatic 25-23, 25-21, 25-19 loss to inch closer to the semifinals of the Premier Volleyball League All-Filipino Conference on Saturday night.
The Cool Smashers pounced on the High Speed Hitters’ mistakes in the one-hour, 34-minute encounter to put away their seventh straight win before a huge crowd at the Aquilino Pimentel Jr. International Convention Center.
Tots Carlos, Michele Gumabao, Alyssa Valdez and Jema Galanza provided the firepower, exemplifying the team’s prowess developed over their six-year campaign that produced six championships in the country’s premier league.
That included their sudden death victory over the Petro Gazz Angels in the first conference, also the All-Filipino, last March.
Coach praise Alyssa's leadership
“Yung first set talagang dikit, yung situation tinitignan namin kung pabor ba sa amin or hindi. Pero knowing, lalo na si Alyssa (Valdez) ang nasa loob, talagang yung leadership niya talagang laging nandiyan,” said Creamline coach Sherwin Meneses.
Creamline tries to formalize its match to the post-elims play with a victory over Nxled on Nov. 23 at the Philsports Arena in Pasig. The Cool Smashers last three elims matches will be against the Chery Tiggo Crossovers, the Akari Chargers and the Galeries Tower Highrisers.
“We still need to improve every game, so all-out pa din kami sa next games,” added Meneses, whose wards thus went 2-for-2 in PVL on Tour, counting their shutout win over the Cignal HD Spikers in Batangas last Oct. 21.
Alyssa topscores for Creamline
Valdez topscored for Creamline for the first time in a long while, finishing with 13 points while Galanza banged in 12 points and Gumabao and Carlos added 10 and four points, respectively.
With so many scoring options, playmaker Kyle Negrito also found little trouble setting up their attacks, finishing with 15 excellent sets and chipping in six points.
PLDT stayed at No. 5 with a 5-3 (win-loss) mark, its bid to join Cignal at 6-2 practically foiled by its own undoing.
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