Creamline overwhelmed F2 Logistics with sheer power and resolve, annexing a dominant 25-19, 25-21, 25-16 victory and keeping the defending champions on track for a plausible sweep of the Premier Volleyball League All-Filipino Conference elims before a big Tuesday crowd at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Cool Smashers kept on dishing out high-caliber plays as the elims heads to its crucial phase with Tots Carlos, Jema Galanza, and Bernadette Pons providing the firepower and Pangs Panaga and Risa Sato supplying the hustle in the middle.
Kyle Negrito, baffling F2 Logistic’s defense with her wily playmaking skills, put up another great ball distribution all night, producing 20 excellent sets and finishing with seven points to emerge the game’s top player.
Creamline thus kept its hold of the solo lead at 6-0, staying as the lone unbeaten squad in the record 12-team field while dropping F2 Logistics to joint sixth with idle Petro Gazz at 4-3, further tightening up the race for at least the last two spots.
“I think there is no shortcut to it (win run) but training. Every game we study our opponent’s game and we always try to execute our system,” said Negrito in summing up the team’s unbeaten run.
Carlos flashed her awesome hitting prowess again and top-scored with 15 points while showcasing her defensive skills with 11 excellent digs. Galanza backed her up with 11 markers and Pons matched Negrito’s seven-point output in the one-hour, 25-minute match.
Creamline peppered F2 Logistics with 44 attack points, 15 more than the Cargo Movers, and though the Cool Smashers gave up more blocks, 4-6, they more than made up for it by scoring 22 points off their rivals’ miscues.
Creamline, on the other hand, yielded 17 unforced errors.
It was more of the same in the third with the Cool Smashers maintaining control early behind Carlos and Galanza and cruising to the straight-set win after pulling off a stirring come-from-behind victory over the Petro Gazz Angels in an energy-sapping five-set duel that took two hours and 27 minutes to finish last Thursday.
The victory was also the Cool Smashers’ fourth straight over the Cargo Movers, who welcomed the return of Myla Pablo but continued to miss the services of Kim Dy.
Pablo failed to score in an abbreviated set-and-a-half stint while trying to feel her way back into the game following a long absence.
But the rest of the Cargo Movers also struggled offensively with Jolina dela Cruz’s eight-point effort proving to be the best. Ara Galang and Majoy Baron finished with seven points apiece while Joy Dacoron and Shola Alvarez chipped in five and four markers, respectively.
Ivy Lacsina groped for form and ended up with just three points while Aby Maraño had one point in a one-set appearance.
The Cargo Movers saved one match point on a Michele Gumabao wide attack but Pons anchored the last of several Creamline’s striking combination plays to stay unscathed midway through the elims.
