FOR the most part, history is on Creamline’s side after taking Game 1 of the 2026 PVL All-Filipino Conference finals, and even more so after doing it in straight sets.
In the 16 conferences where the league used a best-of-three format, the Game 1 winner went on to clinch the championship 14 times.
READ: Sherwin Meneses says Creamline can't dwell on dominant Game 1 win
Half of those belong to the Cool Smashers - seven, to be exact - with their last best-of-three finals triumph coming in the 2024 AFC against Choco Mucho.
The two instances where a Game 1 winner failed to close out the series, though, also involved Creamline.
In the 2019 Reinforced Conference, the Cool Smashers took the opener in four sets before Petro Gazz stormed back to win the next two games, also in four sets.
It was Creamline that would flip the script four years later in the 2023 AFC, dropping Game 1 in four before winning the next two in five and four sets to claim the title.
First blood high
More often than not, Game 1 sets the tone, as 10 of the 14 title series opener winners went on to do some sweeping, with the Cool Smashers accounting for six of those runs.
That trend only strengthens their case this time.
Creamline’s Game 1 blanking of Cignal marked the 10th straight-set finals game in league history, seven of which were authored by the Cool Smashers.
And in every instance where Creamline swept a finals game, it ended up lifting the trophy.
The lone parallel involving the Super Spikers tells a different story.
Back in the 2022 Reinforced Conference, they were stunned by the Angels in a straight-sets Game 1 loss and eventually dropped the series in Game 2 in four sets.
Whether history holds or shifts will be known soon enough.
Game 2 is set Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, where Creamline goes for the clincher and Cignal fights for dear life.
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