ILOCOS NORTE -- Creamline stars Michele Gumabao and Alyssa Valdez dedicated their first Premier Volleyball League win and upcoming games to the fans who waited for this moment.
Gumabao and Valdez combined for 44 points to beat newcomer Sta. Lucia, 25-18, 25-21, 25-27, 25-18, to kick off their Open Conference on Saturday at the PCV Socio-Civic and Cultural Center here in Bacarra.
The former La Salle Lady Spiker, who led all scorers with 24 points, wanted to show that their team still managed to keep its championship poise despite the more than a year of inactivity this Covid-19 pandemic.
"We are the defending champions we want to give everybody the satisfaction from waiting a long time for this season," Gumabao said. "Lahat ng sumusuporta sa Creamline gusto namin suklian lahat ng binibigay nila sa amin."
Valdez was happy to play again but she admitted that she missed all the volleyball fans, who watched the games at home.
"It's so much different alam mo naman isa sa pinagkukuhanan namin ng inspirasyon yung mga fans also. Pag nakikita namin yung crowd iba rin talaga yung motivation na binibigay nila," she said. "So very unusual but naririnig naman namin yung mga teammates namin and we feel like virtually nanonood din yung mga sumusuporta ng volleyball. So yun na lang yung iniisip namin kaya yung energy talaga sa loob at labas kailangan talaga intact kasi yun yung kailangan namin para masurvive yung isang match."
Creamline continued its winning streak to 21 games since it last played in the Open Conference Finals last November 9, 2019.
Gumabao said their twice-a-day bubble training in Clark, Pampanga made them battle-ready.
"The program of our coaches is really there, we've been training twice a day. Ang dami talagang napagdaanan ng team. So ngayon, we're in shape," the opposite hitter said. "Kulang na lang talaga yung in-game na decisions namin. 'Yun ang napansin ko kanina but to prepare for this, it's all our coaches, we just follow the program, do our best and we focus on what's important now and that's volleyball."
After winning their first game, Gumabao said it's still a long way to go for the Cool Smashers and they have to go back to the drawing board for Tuesday's Finals rematch against Petro Gazz, which will parade new stars Myla Pablo, Grethcel Soltones, and Ces Molina.
"It's only our first game there's a long way to go so we can't be complacent, we can't really be happy with the win because we have to practice again tomorrow for our next opponent so it's a really fast tournament so kailangan ano move on kami agad," Gumabao said.
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