In a match that ran late into the night Sunday, Creamline wore down Choco Mucho with sustained firepower, carving out a 25-18, 25-16, 24-26, 25-21 victory to force an early three-way tie for the lead in the Premier Volleyball League All-Filipino Conference at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Bernadette Pons came out from the shadows of her more illustrious teammates, firing 22 points and backing her explosive offensive game with 11 excellent digs and seven receptions to earn the best player of the game honors.
Heavy-handed Michele Gumabao likewise shone with 20 markers, highlighted by four thundering blasts in the fourth set that helped the Cool Smashers break from a tight 17-16 count and into a 23-17 lead and post their ninth straight victory over the Flying Titans in their head-to-head duel.
Earlier, Cignal banked on Ces Molina as it subdued PLDT, 25-16, 20-25, 25-21, 25-20, and Nxled marked its league debut with a 25-18, 25-14, 25-19 romp over Gerflor.
“We kind of relaxed in the third set but recovered in the fourth since we really wanted to win this game,” said Pons, referring to their setback in the third that foiled their sweep bid against their sister team in a highly-anticipated duel watched by more than 14,000 fans.
Jema Galanza unleashed an 11-point game while Pangs Panaga added nine markers and Risa Sato, Alyssa Valdez and Kyle Negrito combined for 12 points for the defending champions, who hardly felt the absence of ace playmaker Jia de Guzman, who is now playing in the Japan V. League.
In a rare off-the-bench role, skipper and former MVP Valdez delivered four key hits in the last two frames as the Cool Smashers overpowered the Sisi Rondina-led Flying Titans, 66-51, although the latter controlled the net with seven blocks, three more than the former.
The high-flying Rondina poured in 21 points while Caitlyn Viray, Des Cheng and Cherry Nunag backed her up with 12, 11 and 10 points, respectively. But the Flying Titans failed to ride on the momentum of their third set win and yielded the first five points in the fourth.
Though they rebounded and forced a number of deadlocks, the last at 14 on a Rondina kill, the Cool Smashers kept their composure and went to Valdez, Gumabao and Pons to regain control on their way to victory.
“We’re happy to win our first game. But the breaks just went our way,” said Meneses.
Negrito more than stepped up in the absence of de Guzman, putting up a 23-excellent stint as she outplayed counterpart Deanna Wong, who finished with 14.
