CREAMLINE quickly put Chery Tiggo away, 25-10, 27-25, 25-21, in Game One of the 2024-25 PVL All-Filipino Conference quarterfinals on Tuesday at the Philsports Arena.
The defending champions hardly broke a sweat after a 19-day break since their qualifying round sweep over Nxled.
Creamline only had to dig deeper in an extended set two where it went on a 7-2 blitz from 20-23 down to keep control and eventually secure the series lead.
Aging like fine wine was team captain Alyssa Valdez, who was one reception shy of a triple-double with 16 points on 64 percent efficiency, 13 digs and nine receptions.
The Cool Smashers also gifted Sherwin Meneses his 100th win as PVL head coach since taking over the reins in the 2022 Open Conference.
The win was the Cool Smashers’ 14th straight playoff game win over an 18-month period since their last knockout title game loss in the 2023 Invitational Conference against Japanese guest team Kurashiki Ablaze in five sets.
One more win separates the defending champions’ five-peat bid from reaching its next phase in the single-round robin semifinals.
Rust didn't come to play for the Cool Smashers as a near-three-week layoff made an already-fearsome title-winning unit much stronger.
"Our coaching staff made sure that we didn't get rusty talaga. We might have had other events, most especially MG (Michele Gumabao)'s wedding last week, but Coach Sherwin made sure talaga na when we got back, we had to work, and we worked double time during those times, lalo na nung malapit na yung game namin today," Valdez said.
"Ginawa lang naman, I guess, there was a balance of life and hard work, and I think it worked for us this Game 1."
In 16 PVL conferences played since the league’s inception in 2017, Creamline has always reached the semifinals and has never finished a campaign outside the top three.
That streak can be stretched to 17 come Game 2 on Saturday at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.
Brake-tested Crossovers
Just one week after topping the play-ins, Chery Tiggo was left gobsmacked by Creamline in a straight-sets demolition job.
Only Shaya Adorador hit double figures with 10 points and 13 receptions as ace scorers Cess Robles and Ara Galang were held to just seven and five markers, respectively.
Meanwhile, Risa Sato had just one block point in her first match against her champion team of six years.
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