Despite being the franchise with essentially the most PVL titles, Creamline appeared to struggle within the Reinforced Conference.
On this season’s tournament, it seemed that a second title of the import-fueled event was questionable following an opening-game 16-25, 25-22, 24-26, 25-19, 15-12 defeat to PLDT, the primary time shortly that the Cool Smashers lost their first match of a conference.
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But that’s what it took to fireside up the team.
“After we lost to PLDT in our first game, I told myself that our conference is not going to be defined by our first loss,” Bernadeth Pons said late Wednesday night, after she powered the Cool Smashers to a dominant 25-15, 25-23, 25-17 decision over Akari within the one-game final for this yr’s Reinforced crown.
Creamline coach Sherwin Meneses called the conquest one in every of the sweetest for the franchise since it completed the feat despite the absence of key players Alyssa Valdez, Tots Carlos and Jema Galanza the entire tournament.
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However it was precisely those setbacks that Creamline got together to make a golden run.
“[Before the conference] actually, we were readied by the coaches mentally. [Meneses] said that whoever is left here must be ready and we should always not look for many who aren’t here,” Pons said.
“There are occasions that we have now a tough time during training and coach says ‘who else are you waiting for [to perform]?’ in order that was one in every of our wake-up calls that [reminded us] ‘oh, right, we’re the one ones left here so we’d like to do the additional work on all the things,” Pons added.
Pons, Michele Gumabao and Erica Staunton filled within the scoring roles vacated by the absent stars and helped Creamline to a 6-2 record within the preliminaries and likewise spearheaded the Cool Smashers as they survived the win-or-go-home quarterfinals and the semifinals.
Competitive practices
A formidable feat, except that on the other side of the no-tomorrow finals was a Chargers team that had been unbeaten entering the title duel and was motivated by the considered finally nailing a primary franchise championship.
The Chargers, behind its own trio of Ivy Lacsina, Grethcel Soltones and import Oly Okaro, were challenged by 10 other teams and none of them were capable of stop a hungry and revamped Akari.
But Creamline’s goal remained clear. It wasn’t just attending to the ultimate. It was winning a ninth crown.
“Daily in training, it looks like we’re playing an actual game because everyone seems to be so competitive,” Pons, who won a first-ever Conference and Finals MVP in her first Reinforced title, said.
That competitiveness in practice seamlessly translated into wins.
The Cool Smashers halted the Chargers’ 10-game run to annex a ninth trophy. The streak stopping and historic championship was one other testament to the vaunted system of Meneses, who won his first Reinforcement crown since being on the helm in 2022.
“I believe its among the finest traits of the team because we get challenged to search out solutions to different situations because everyone seems to be so competitive, in a healthy way,” Pons said.
