Creamline showed off its dominance in a commanding 25-22, 25-17, 25-15 victory against Galeries Tower, joining sister team Choco Mucho at the top of the standings in the Premier Volleyball League All-Filipino Conference prelims at the Philsports Arena in Pasig Thursday.
Tots Carlos slowed down from a career-high 31-point blast against the Akari Chargers last weekend with a nine-point output. But with solid performances from Michele Gumabao, Lorie Bernardo and Bea de Leon, the Cool Smashers didn’t solely rely on the former UP Lady Maroon for another explosive display of hitting prowess.
Gumabao came off the bench to fire 10 points, while Bernardo shone in the middle with six points and de Leon added five points, both in two-set stints.
Alyssa Valdez added eight points for the Cool Smashers, who also drew a pair of five-point outputs from Bernadeth Pons and Jema Galanza, and four markers from Rose Vargas.
Kyle Negrito took the game’s best honors with an 18-excellent set performance while emphasizing the challenging nature of the competition.
“There are no easy teams in the league. Against Galeries, we had to maintain focus on our system and execute our plays,” said Negrito, who also finished with two points.
The one-hour and 18-minute victory marked Creamline’s third consecutive win, keeping it in step with Choco Mucho. It also primed up the Cool Smashers for a challenging encounter against the formidable Chery Tiggo Crossovers on March 16 at the Sta. Rosa Sports Complex in Laguna.
“Based on their performance, okay naman, nung third set, medyo malayo yung score. Okay naman. At least hindi masyado nagpabaya dun sa mga basic skills na ginagawa namin palagi,” said Meneses, whose wards dominated all the scoring skills – spikes (45-32), blocks (7-2) and serves (6-1).
“We’re very happy sa performance and we’re very proud of everyone,” said Valdez. “But yun, sinasabi din samin nila coach na we can’t be too complacent. Kailangan may respect and andoon pa rin yung aggressiveness naming. Marami pa rin kaming lapses.”
