CANDON CITY — Tots Carlos and Bea de Leon will remember Creamline’s first PVL trip to Ilocos Sur for a long time.
The Cool Smashers flexed their championship mettle on Akari, one of three teams they took down last season to complete Philippine volleyball’s first Grand Slam, in a 26-24, 25-17, 25-16 sweep.
READ: Full strength Creamline smashes Akari in straight sets
For different reasons, the spotlight was on both Carlos and de Leon who had comeback and breakout stories to tell, respectively.
Tots’ first game back
The three-time PVL MVP was a central figure in Creamline’s last All-Filipino Conference triumph earlier this year.
She went down at the tail-end of their title-clinching Game 2 win with suspected knee problems and had to be carried around by her teammates during their championship celebrations.
While the full nature of her injury remains undisclosed, Carlos sat out the last two conferences of the Cool Smashers’ Grand Slam season with team captain Alyssa Valdez.
She’d make her much-awaited Creamline return once and for all in their second straight out-of-town trip in Candon to add more fuel to the fire of their five-peat bid.
Limited minutes aside, Carlos’ pursuit of rediscovering her peak form began with a meager four-point performance.
Slow and steady has been her approach during her recovery process — one hastened and made much more swift by a Creamline team that never put any pressure on her to overcome her injury woes as fast as possible.
The healing process went at her own time and pace, and Carlos will always be thankful how her road back to the taraflex played out.
“Of course, I wanted to be back as soon as I can. Nakakatuwa kasi sina coach, di naman kami minamadali. But also yung pressure, sarili na lang namin pine-pressure namin,” said Carlos.
“Masaya kami na meron kaming ganung klaseng sistema kasi mas namo-motivate kami na makabalik at hindi namadali yung mga injuries namin
She furthered, “Siyempre sa team, mahaba ‘yung season so kailangan naming mag-ikot ng mga tao para hindi mauubos yung mga tao. Ginagawa namin yung best namin para makabalik agad.”
BDL back at it
It was a breakout game to remember for de Leon, who as a middle blocker, proved to be a reliable offensive weapon herself in a team of veteran star spikers.
Her 12 markers built on 10 attacks, one block and one ace would seem like a regular Cool Smasher output, but there’s more to the numbers than the points haul alone.
BDL converted 10 of her 13 attacks in the straight-sets contest, yielding a remarkable 76.9 scoring efficiency.
For a fan-favorite herself in a well-loved team, feeding off the roaring energy of mostly-pink crowd gives de Leon a big lift during high-intensity matches.
And playing in front of 7,281 Ilocano fans who waited for over a year to see them play live is no exception.
“Very happy ako na nakuha namin ‘yung panalo. Nag-enjoy lang talaga kami, sobrang saya mag-play sa crowd na ‘to,” said de Leon.
“They were really really loud. Sobrang sarap sa tenga na marinig lahat ‘yun. When we came out pa lang, super cheer kaagad talaga sila for Creamline. Alam namin na galing sila sa super layo na mga lugar so maraming, maraming salamat talaga sa suporta.”
The cherry on top for BDL and the rest of the Cool Smashers? Having their vets back.
“The past few games parang ine-enjoy ko lang din talaga kasi talaga special sa buong team na bumalik na si ate Ly [Valdez] tsaka si Tottie [Carlos] so ine-enjoy lang din talaga namin ‘to together.”
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