ON the eve of Creamline’s debut, three head-scratching exclusions stood out as the club revealed its 14-player roster for the 2025 AVC Women’s Champions League.
Leading the final player cuts for the Cool Smashers were three-time PVL MVP Tots Carlos, newly awarded PVL Best Middle Blocker Bea de Leon and veteran libero Denden Lazaro-Revilla.
READ Creamline opens AVC Champions League bid in smashing fashion
So why were they removed?
Creamline head coach Sherwin Meneses said the club decided not to take a risk with stars nursing what he described as 'minor injuries.'
“‘Yung about kay Bea [de Leon] and Tots [Carlos], may minor injuries kasi sila,” Meneses said.
“One week lang ‘yung league so dapat 100 percent ‘yung mga naglalaro. Representing Philippines, talagang dapat 100 percent sila. ‘Yung mga minor injuries kasi nila, medyo hindi talaga sila makakaabot.”
In Carlos’ case, it has only been roughly five months since she made her return to the PVL after a four-month knee injury layoff.
Her 8.82-point scoring average in prelims play was far from her usual lethal form and it was also evident during the recently concluded PVL Finals as her performance was marred by uncharacteristic attack faults.
Meanwhile, de Leon wasn’t at her peak physical form during the title series loss to Petro Gazz and had to play with caution.
Even under such challenging circumstances, BDL still showed up in Creamline’s valiant charge as she copped her first best middle blocker award in six years in the PVL.
Meneses didn’t go into details on Lazaro-Revilla’s exclusion but it was a matter of giving the team’s rookie libero in Fil-Canadian ace Aleiah Torres more playing time after seeing limited minutes in her debut season so far.
With one win under their belt, the Cool Smashers won’t be letting their guard down as they look to ride the momentum of a promising start.
“Alam naman natin yung Kazakhstan talagang napaka-tatangkad nila. We have training tomorrow so pagaaralan muna naming mabuti iyong Kazakhstan kasi yung Jordan talaga hindi namin na-scout. Ngayon, makakapag-focus kami sa Kazakhstan."
Meneses added: “Magfo-foocus kami sa every game namin kasi iba naman yung PVL sa AVC, international competition kasi ‘to so focus lang kami."
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