CREAMLINE had quite some fun mixing and matching its top guns in its 23-25, 25-23, 25-23, 25-17 win over Chery Tiggo EV on Tuesday.
An eye-catching twist the Cool Smashers pulled off was fielding three-time PVL MVP Tots Carlos as an outside hitter.
With American import Courtney Schwan a lock at the first outside hitter post, the second spot became a sudden tossup between Valdez and their natural opposite in Carlos.
READ: Creamline thwarts Chery Tiggo EV to return to winning ways
A win came out of that gambit, most importantly, but as far as the numbers go, Valdez was held to two points in a brief first-set cameo while Carlos erupted for 17 points and 20 receptions.
The former University of the Philippines standout once played a whole conference away from her natural position in the 2023 All-Filipino Conference, one where she even won best outside hitter.
As such, Creamline head coach Sherwin Meneses didn’t force Carlos to play open because of any fitness issue on Valdez whatsoever.
The move was simply one of Creamline’s many tricks up its sleeves in a bid to maximize its champion-caliber squad depth in new and unpredictable ways.
“Depende kasi ‘yun sa magiging situation ng game kasi talagang marami pang combinations ‘yung team namin para makalaban du’n sa mga team na gusto mag-champion ngayon,” Meneses explained.
“Ngayon, at least marami kaming options sa positioning na depende sa game kung sino ‘yung nasa loob.
“Tots or Alyssa is the same lang naman, so let’s see na lang sa mga susunod.”
That conservative approach was also an implicit load management strategy on Meneses’ end.
With games coming in fast in the conference’s home stretch, resting their stars and dodging the injury bug as much as possible are imperative to carry out their title defense.
“‘Yun ‘yung number one priority [na maging healthy kami], especially Tots na galing sa injury and then si Alyssa na nandiyan palagi,” Meneses said.
“Thankful kami na healthy kami ngayon [kasi] kung sino ‘yung magiging healthy sa dulo, siguro medyo lalamang.
“Nandun naman kami kaya sana walang ma-injury para mas maging competitive ‘yung mga laban.”
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