THE PVL’s longest conference yet just got longer, as both All-Filipino medal matches will go the distance in a pair of rubber matches.
READ: History tells us Creamline-Petro Gazz Game 2 victor goes on to win it all
A championship decider is in order after Creamline forced a winner-take-all Game Three by holding fort in an instant five-set classic over Petro Gazz, 25-15, 16-25, 25-21, 15-25, 15-9.
Bernadeth Pons gave it everything and more to save the Cool Smashers’ ‘drive-for-five’ with 22 points, 12 receptions, and nine digs.
Reigning All-Filipino finals MVP Jema Galanza dished out a 13-piece and came out swinging in the home stretch to stay alive in the series.
Sister team Choco Mucho also forced a clincher round in the battle for third by fending off Akari in a 25-18, 25-22, 27-29, 25-19 four-set victory.
Flying Titans captain Sisi Rondina left her heart on the taraflex to keep the podium dream afloat with a game-high 26 points.
Here are the key takeaways from a scintillating night of championship volleyball in front of an 11,508-strong crowd at the Big Dome on Thursday.
1) CREAMLINE SHOWED WHY IT'S THE PVL’S WINNINGEST TEAM
If further proof was even needed to understand why Creamline continues to be the PVL’s yardstick, then its Game Two performance over Petro Gazz is evidence as concrete as can be.
When the going got tough after losing Game One in five sets, the Cool Smashers had it in them to find a way to get going again.
For one, all but two attacking players landed on the scoresheets, as head coach Sherwin Meneses shuffled his deck of stars — more so during the decisive breaks of the game.
Setter Kyle Negrito and libero Kyla Atienza made sure to cover the non-scoring departments with 26 excellent sets and a defensive double-double of 18 receptions and 16 digs, respectively.
Simply put, once Creamline goes full throttle as it did to seal Game 2, this championship-caliber unit is hard to stop.
2) JEMA, PONS HAVE CREAMLINE’S LEAD OUTSIDE HITTER SPOTS ON LOCK
When it comes to volleyball fundamentals, offense isn’t the only prerequisite to being an efficient outside hitter.
Reliable floor defense is a must, too.
And such defensive capabilities are among Galanza and Pons’ strong suits for the Cool Smashers, too.
In prelims play, Pons led Creamline in receptions with a 40 percent receiving efficiency, while Galanza led the team in digging with 2.35 digs per set.
Pons, in particular, has averaged 14.5 digs and 12.5 receptions in the first two games of the PVL Finals.
For a shot at title No. 111, Pons and Galanza will yet again be key for Creamline to win it all on Saturday.
3) PETRO GAZZ COULDN’T REPLICATE DOMINANT GAME 1 FINISH
Dominating the fifth set fueled the Angels’ series-opening victory over the Cool Smashers.
In fact, theey held Creamline at bay in that tiebreak — a difficult feat in itself — with a 10-4 start that just proved too much to fight back from for the defending champions.
Set 5 in Game 2 was a different story altogether.
Brooke Van Sickle and Jonah Sabete both had triple-doubles and landed their signature sharp hits in what could’ve been a title-clinching fifth set.
But costly attacking errors from the likes of Myla Pablo made the path much freer for the Cool Smashers to force a rubber match for the title.
Creamline trailed 4-10 in Set 5 in Game 1, only to lead 10-8 in Set 5 in Game 2 before going on a 5-1 match-clinching run.
If the winner-take-all was to go to five sets as well, a hot start will almost certainly be of the essence.
4) PATIENCE PAYS OFF FOR SISI, CHOCO MUCHO
Losing four straight playoff matches felt like one sucker punch after another for Rondina and the rest of the Flying Titans.
Making matters worse was how Choco Mucho fell straight down from cloud nine after winning 10 in a row just before the single-round robin semifinals.
It was a sigh of relief and a thorn picked out from their chests just as Rondina & Co. were starting to lose grip of a consolation bronze medal.
Now that the pain of a string of dampening losses has been alleviated, the Flying Titans now look to finish the story on a winning note and beat the Chargers one more and one last time for a third podium in the last four conferences.
5) NO CLEAR FAVORITES NOW FOR GOLD, BRONZE
Now that it’ll take just one more game to decide the gold and the bronze, there won’t be such a thing as favorites in either series.
Form, history, and the like will all be thrown out the window once the conference finale goes underway on Saturday at the Philsports Arena.
All that matters now is how the last four teams will wake up on Saturday morning and show out in front of thousands of fans at the Pasig City venue under immense pressure.
But as the old sporting adage goes, it will all boil down to which teams will want it just a bit more than the other.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
