CREAMLINE shrugged off a record-setting first-set loss by taming a gutsy Farm Fresh side, 34-36, 25-23, 25-22, 25-15, on Saturday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Cool Smashers have now won 16 matches in succession, dating back to last year’s season-ending conference.
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The defending champions squandered 12 set points in the 45-minute first-set tug-of-war before Farm Fresh converted its only set point through Alyssa Bertolano’s service ace.
Moreover, the 36-34 opening set scoreline marks the highest-scoring set in an elimination round game since the league turned pro — third overall since Choco Mucho's 41-39 prelims set win over Army in 2019 and Petro Gazz' 37-35 set win in Game One of the Finals versus Cignal in 2022.
"Farm Fresh really did a great job. They were defending well, they were attacking well. They did combinations, they did fast plays.
"On our side naman, we had a lot of errors like in the first set I think we had 11 in the second we had 10 so back to basics pa rin starting with the pass kasi shaky yung pass namin nu'ng una," said Tots Carlos, who topscored for Creamline with 19 points.
Creamline head coach Sherwin Meneses added: "'Yung first set namin, hindi maganda 'yung simula pero sinabi ko sa kanila na kailangan maka-recover kami sa mga next sets kasi talagang napag-usapan naman namin na 'yung Farm Fresh, hindi sila basta-basta ngayon."
Despite the loss, the gutsy Foxies had promising performances from sophomore star Trisha Tubu with 19 points on 18 attacks and one ace, paired with crucial pitches from Kate Santiago (11 points) and Farm Fresh newcomer Chinnie Arroyo (eight points).
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