CREAMLINE is set to welcome back a familiar face when it returns for the 2026 PVL All-Filipino Conference, banking once more on Bernadeth Pons to provide the spark after a challenging year for the franchise.
Pons’ decision to sit out the 2025 season to focus on beach volleyballl aligned with the Cool Smashers enduring their first title-less year since the pandemic, a rare dip for the league’s most decorated club.
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While success eluded Creamline on the professional stage, Pons and fellow Cool Smasher Dij Rodriguez struck gold on the international scene after the duo ruled the 33rd SEA Games women’s beach volleyball tournament in Thailand.
With that milestone now in the rearview mirror, Pons is turning her full attention back to indoor play, determined to help steer Creamline back to the top.
Fresh off their SEA Games gold triumph last November 19, Pons and Rodriguez wasted little time rejoining team activities, returning to training with the Cool Smashers shortly after New Year’s Day.
“’Yung goal talaga namin is makabalik sa taas, pero siyempre, hindi siya ganun kadaling makuha kaya everyday namin ‘yun paghahandaan talaga,” Pons said.
“Simula January 2 pa lang, bumalik na kami, nag-ensayo na kami kaya paghihirapan talaga namin.”
As proven throughout Creamline’s 10 championship runs, success has never hinged on a single player.
That collective strength is once again coming into focus with the anticipated returns of key contributors Jia de Guzman, Jema Galanza and Bea de Leon, giving the Cool Smashers renewed confidence heading into the conference.
“Sobrang saya kasi kumpleto na talaga kami,” Pons said. “Lahat kami nandito na. Si Jia, nandiyan na. ‘Yung mga injured before, makakabalik na rin so kumpleto talaga kami ngayon.”
New indoor challenge
Pons spent nearly all of 2025 competing on sand as part of Alas Pilipinas Women Beach's SEA Games buildup, making the shift back to the indoor game a deliberate process.
While her physical conditioning remains intact, the 2024 Reinforced Conference MVP admitted that reacclimating to the hard court and fine-tuning timing have been among her early hurdles.
“Physically, siguro conditioned pa kami coming from beach [volleyball]. ‘Yung medyo mahirap and challenging sa'min is yung hard floor ulit,” Pons said.
“Eight months kami nasa sand so mahirap din pagbalik. Pati rin ‘yung timing namin sa palo, medyo off pa.
“’Yun pa ‘yung wino-workout namin everyday sa ensayo namin and hopefully, magtuloy-tuloy ‘yung progress.”
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