AT A GLANCE
Creamline fought back from a tight second set before edging a resilient Galeries Tower, 25-15, 26-24, 25-19, to take the No. 1 seeding in the next round of the Premier Volleyball League All-Filipino Conference at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City on Thursday, Feb. 20.
Creamline fought back from a tight second set before edging a resilient Galeries Tower, 25-15, 26-24, 25-19, to take the No. 1 seeding in the next round of the Premier Volleyball League All-Filipino Conference at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City on Thursday, Feb. 20.
The Cool Smashers displayed their championship caliber anchored on veteran Alyssa Valdez to finish the first-round preliminaries on a high note with a 10-1 win-loss record.
It set them up for a meeting with Nxled after the Chameleons bowed to the Petro Gazz Angels, 25-19, 25-14, 25-17, to finish with the 1-10 mark for the 12th seeding. The Angels, for their part, also finished at 10-1 for the second seed and set up a next meeting with the 11th seed Capital1 Solar Spikers.
Galeries Tower, whose loss also put them at 1-10, but gave them a higher seeding at 10th, arranged a meeting with No. 3 Cignal.
Creamline needed that straight-set victory to seal the top seeding as they entered the match tied with Petro Gazz at the helm, though with a slim set-win advantage 29-27.
The win didn’t come easy, though.
After a dominating opening set, the Cool Smashers found themselves trailing the Highrisers after the Galeries Tower tightened its defense spearheaded by Roselle Baliton and Grazielle Bombita.
ADVERTISEMENT
Jho Maraguinot and France Ronquillo also bannered the Highrisers’ offensive assault, giving them a 22-16 edge.
That turned out to be the Highrisers’ last stand as Valdez conspired with Tots Carlos in finally destroying Galeries Tower’s net defense with their hard-hitting attacks on all angles for eight straight points to grab the 24-22 upperhand.
Maraguinot and Andrea Marzan stopped the bleeding for the Highrisers and tied it at 24-all, but a combination play from Carlos and a down-the-line spike from Valdez sealed the set victory for the Cool Smashers.
From there, Creamline kept that momentum and dictated the pace throughout the third frame en route to the win.
“It was a good game for both sides. Nag-wok yung mga basics namin and we really worked hard on our system these past few days so thankfully, nanalo kami,” said Valdez, who flashed her vintage form by finishing 16 points on 15 kills and one block.
“Every time nagta-time out kami, Coach (Sherwin Meneses) was asking us to get one point at a time. It just so happened the momentum switched on our side so luckily we finished it with a win,” she added.
Carlos paced the Cool Smashers with 18 points built on 16 attacks, while Bea De Leon, Jema Galanza and Pangs Panaga combined for 16 points.
Galeries Tower finished with a 1-10 mark despite Baliton scoring 10 points.
