Creamline smashed its way past a hapless Army side, scoring a lopsided 25-15, 25-20, 25-12 victory to move a win away from formalizing its stint in post-elims play of the Premier Volleyball League All Filipino Conference at the Philsports Arena in Pasig on Tuesday.
Save for an early challenge from a game Army side, it was all-Creamline show with coach Sherwin Meneses having the luxury of fielding his other players for the needed confidence-boost in preparation for a wild stretch run in the single round elims with six teams all in the hunt for the four berths in the next round.
But with a 5-1 (win-loss) slate, the Creamline looks a cinch to nail one of the coveted slots against either a surging PLDT next Tuesday or a struggling Akari on March 14.
While starters Tots Carlos and Michele Gumabao still led the assault with 17 and 11 points, respectively, Rose Vargas came away with seven markers, middle Risa Sato scored five points, and Rizza Mandapat and Pau Soriano had three and two points, respectively for the defending champions, who came up with 42 attack points against the Lady Troopers’ 29.
They also pounced on their rivals’ erratic service reception and scored 10 aces, including four from Vargas and drew 19 points from the Lady Troopers’ 19 unforced errors while giving up 10 of their own.
Honey Royse Tubino fired 12 points while Lut Malaluan, Nene Bautista and Jeanette Villareal combined for 18 points. But after battling their fancied rivals in the first 12 minutes marred by mishits and miscues, the Lady Troopers lost steam and failed to measure up with the Cool Smashers’ power game and hustle plays.
“May opportunity lang talaga makalaro ung mga stringers. Yung training naman ng first 6 namin eh same lang din ng stringers, so alam nila yung gagawin. We’re happy kasi maganda ung nilaro nila,” said Meneses. “Mahaba pa naman ang liga, so matutulungan pa naming yung isa’t isa.”
The Cool Smashers will take a week-long break before resuming their hunt for the all-important win against a hot-charging High Speed Hitters.
After dropping a tough five-set setback to F2 Logistics last Feb. 7, PLDT swept its next three matches to wheel back into strong contention with the High Speed Hitters looking to extend their run against the Akari Chargers at presstime.
Meneses, meanwhile, looks forward to drawing more big games from his bench.
“Masaya ako kasi hindi lang ilang points ang nailaro nila. Almost one set ung mga stringers, yun ang napakagandang nangyari ngayon. Sa mga next games, alam naming kung sino pa yung mga makakatulong kasi lahat naman yan ready,” said Meneses.
But Tubino countered with a drop ball and an off-the-block hit to put Army back on top at 15-14. But Ivy Perez served long and the Cool Smashers took the cue and swept the next 10 points to clinch the frame, anchored on Carlos and Gumabao’s attacks, a Pangs Panaga power tip and a couple of Army unforced errors.
