HUMBLE in victory, gracious in defeat.
That was what Creamline team captain Alyssa Valdez showed after the Cool Smashers fell short of securing a seventh straight PVL Finals appearance despite a 25-16, 20-25, 14-25, 25-11, 15-9 victory over Chery Tiggo on Tuesday.
By losing out to Cignal HD and Petro Tiggo in the quotient tiebreak after all three finished the Reinforced Conference semifinals at 2-1 (win-loss), the Cool Smashers kissed their bid for a season grand slam goodbye.
[READ: Creamline grand slam bid comes to a shocking end]
This was also the three-time MVP Valdez's first time missing the finals since 2018.
"It's weird. It's kinda weird na even if we won the game, unfortunately we weren't able to get into the Finals," Valdez said as she racked up 18 points on 15 attacks and three aces against also-ran Chery Tiggo.
"It's weird to say na parang bumabalik kami sa rookie year namin. 'Cause we haven't felt this talaga na hindi kami lalaban din sa finals. It's been so long."
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Valdez admitted pressure was a big factor in the Cool Smashers' meltdown in the third set, where they squandered a 10-7 lead and eventually dropped two sets. They needed to win by at most four sets to secure the tiebreak advantage.
"It's been a while na nabigyan kami ng ganitong situation also. I think we actually didn't get to handle it in such a way na as a champion team," she said.
"But, we have to finish it. We have to respect the game, and buong Creamline team did that. So I'm actually proud of the team also. And it's not over yet," she added.
With the match extending to five sets, the 2022 Open and Invitational Champions ended the semifinals five points - a point shy from a three-way tie with finalists Cignal and defending champion Petro Gazz.
Creamline now concludes its season with a rematch against Chery Tiggo in the best-of-three battle for bronze on Thursday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Despite the setback, Valdez focused on the silver lining and kept her faith on the Cool Smashers' ability to bounce back.
"Iba rin 'yung matututunan namin coming into the bronze game. So, we'll take it one game at a time talaga. And what we did noong fourth and fifth set, we just let it all out," she said.
"It was really free volleyball, we respected the sport. That's why I feel like at the end of the day, pagdating namin sa next games namin, mas ganoon 'yung mentality namin."
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