STA. ROSA CITY — Petro Gazz completed a breakthrough five-set comeback over Creamline, 15-25, 25-18, 24-26, 25-19, 15-13, in the 2024 PVL All-Filipino Conference in front of a soldout 6,419-strong crowd on Saturday at the City of Santa Rosa Multi-Purpose Complex.
Brooke Van Sickle set a new career-high with 29 points built on 23 attacks, four blocks and two aces on top of 20 receptions and 12 digs as Petro Gazz took solo second at 6-2 (win-loss).
READ: Choco Mucho brings down Capital1, takes provisional PVL lead
From a set down, the Angels rallied back to win the last two frames en route to only their sixth victory against the Cool Smashers in 29 PVL meetings since 2018.
The win was only Petro Gazz’ second in the last 19 matches between the two champion sides.
"We learned a lot of lessons from Choco Mucho and Chery (Tiggo) and we grew from there as a team and you know, Creamline is amazing. They’re an awesome team. Coming in here, I watched them a lot so far in this PVL season and they’re a team that does not give up, not one bit.
"I’ve seen them endless times how even if they’re down, they come back so I feel like for us we’re very aware of how that mentality is for that team and we can’t let up any point. If we let up one, they have that mentality and will come back and take it away from you. I feel like we did a very good job of taking every point serious," said Van Sickle following her PVL career game.
Creamline flexed its championship pedigree early with a 12-0 run led by skipper Alyssa Valdez (11 points) and Michele Gumabao (10 points) to secure the opening set — to which Van Sickle & Co. to respond with an 8-2 second-frame start and brought the Angels back on level terms.
From there, Petro Gazz grabbed a 24-22 lead in Set 3 before Tots Carlos, who came off the bench for the Cool Smashers with 15 points, steered the defending champs to a four-point scoring spree and move one set away from the win.
But it was an Angels takeover from there onwards with Jonah Sabete also taking off with a triple-double of 21 points, 14 receptions and 13 digs. Carlos & Co. had one last fight in them with another four-point run from 5-10 down in the fifth-set tiebreak but it wasn't meant to be as Aiza Maizo-Pontillas dealt the dagger at 15-13 for an unforgettable victory in Laguna.
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