BACARRA— Hard work paid off for Michele Gumabao as she made an impressive comeback in the Premier Volleyball League Open Conference.
Gumabao played like she didn’t go through a year-long pandemic lull as she delivered a game-high 24 points in Creamline’s four-set victory over Sta. Lucia on Saturday at the PCV Socio-Civic and Cultural Center.
The La Salle standout last saw action in the PVL last November 9, 2019, when the Cool Smashers completed a 20-game sweep for their second straight conference title.
But the 28-year-old opposite spiker still showed no rust, dropping 21 kills, two aces and a block including 15 excellent digs.
'Secret' to conditioning
Her secret? Creamline’s twice-a-day training program in its Clark, Pampanga bubble.
“I’m just really thankful, we’ve been all working hard for this and we’ve been training hard. Ang gusto lang talaga namin, whatever we’re training maipakita namin sa game and it was a good game,” said Gumabao shorty after the game.

Gumabao also praised head coach Tai Bundit, who remained hands-on despite being away from the team, as well as his assistant Sherwin Menesis for making the Cool Smashers battle-ready in volleyball’s return during this pandemic.
“The program of our coaches is really there, we’ve been training twice a day. Ang dami talagang napagdaanan ng team so ngayon we’re in shape,” said the beauty queen-athlete.
“We’re really excited, we’ve been working hard for this the whole team from our management, to all the players and the staff, we’ve been putting so much into this tournament to prepare for this, give our best,” she added.
Three-time PVL MVP Alyssa Valdez said Gumabao is one of the hard workers in their team during their preseason build-up.
“MG is one of the girls na super hardworker talaga and you can see naman yung energy niya and isa din siya sa mga leader ng team,” Valdez said. “We’re just really thankful na kakampi namin siya more than kalaban namin siya. Lahat ng pinagpaguran nya, lumalabas ngayon.”
Gumabao is dedicating their first win and the rest of this bubble conference to their supporters, who waited for this historic moment and watching games from their homes.
“We are the defending champions we want to give everybody the satisfaction from waiting a long time for this season and lahat ng sumusuporta sa Creamline gusto namin suklian lahat ng binibigay nila sa amin,” she said.
After a rousing Open Conference debut, the 5-foot-10 hitter stressed it’s still a long journey for Creamline.
“It’s only our first game there’s a long way to go so we can’t be complacent, we can’t really be happy with the win because we have to practice again tomorrow for our next opponent so it’s a really fast tournament so kailangan ano move on kami agad,” Gumabao said.
Gumabao and the Cool Smashers renew their rivalry with 2019 Reinforced Conference champion Petro Gazz, which will debut its revamped roster led by Myla Pablo, Grethcel Soltones, and Ces Molina on Tuesday.
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