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Creamline flashed its vaunted firepower against a Chery Tiggo crew reinforced by three ace rookies, carving out a 25-22, 25-22, 25-17 victory to take early command in Group A of the two-bracket single round elims of the 2023 PVL Invitational Conference, Tuesday evening at the Filoil Ecooil Centre in San Juan.
Skipper Alyssa Valdez made her keenly awaited return from knee injury that kept her out of the All-Filipino Conference and though she scored just three points, her mere presence helped fire up the Cool Smashers in the match they practically controlled all throughout behind their fluid offense and superb blocking.
Tots Carlos unleashed a 24-point game, including 21 attack points and three blocks, while Jema Galanza scored 10 hits and two aces as they spiked the defending champions’ romp that gave them the head-start in their side of the grouping in the short single round elims where every set, ever game count.
Eya Laure debuted with top-scoring 14 points but Joyme Cagande could only produce six excellent sets in her match-up with seasoned Jia de Guzman, who finished with 16, and Imee Hernandez struggled for three markers for the Crossovers, who battled the crowd favorites to tight first two sets before yielding in the stretch.
From a 7-all count in the third frame, the Cool Smashers hammered out kill after kill and played solid at the net to foil a number of Chery Tiggo assaults, leading to a 19-12 bulge. Though the Crossovers gained some momentum to close in at 16-22, Eya Laure served wide and the Cool Smashers closed them out with a decisive 3-1 run.
Mylene Paat had nine points, Ponggay Gaston added six markers but EJ Laure made just three points as she practically yielded the attacking chores to her younger sister.
Ced Domingo and Pangs Panaga, meanwhile, combined for 11 points while Rose Vargas and Michele Gumabao added two points apiece for the Cool Smashers, who wrapped up the one-hour, 38-minute duel on a Gumabao off-the-block hit.
