Creamline Cool Smashers’ Tots Carlos during a game against Galeries Tower High Risers within the PVL All-Filipino Conference. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
Creamline’s image of invincibility took successful last week. But while that first defeat put a dent on how the team looked from the surface, it also made the Cool Smashers recognize what they must do heading into the knockout round of the PVL All-Filipino Conference.
“I feel everyone knows what our lapses are. I feel it’s good to experience [a loss] before the knockout games,” Tots Carlos said, referring to a five-set loss to PLDT that ground Creamline’s 19-game winning streak to a halt.
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The Cool Smashers looked vulnerable at times on Thursday before pulling off a dramatic second set comeback against Galeries Tower on the option to a 25-15, 26-24, 25-19 win at PhilSports Arena in Pasig City that finalized their spot as the highest seeds going into the qualifying phase.
“The coaches all the time say that we learn from the losses,” Carlos added after dropping 18 points on the Highrisers. “But we also must not forget that we still have more essential games, in order that’s what we are going to concentrate on.”
The reigning All-Filipino queens go into the following round as No. 1 after a 10-1 record, and as a reward, the Cool Smashers may have the lightest project within the KO stage.
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Creamline’s win also sealed Petro Gazz’s second-place finish even when the Angels beat bottom-dweller Nxled at press time.
Despite taking a 30-28, 25-21, 23-25, 18-25, 16-14 shock handed by the High Speed Hitters, the Cool Smashers still appear like the powerhouse squad that just went through a bump on the road.
Galeries Tower pushed Creamline within the second set after taking a 16-9 lead.
But Alyssa Valdez took matters into her own hands to key a 15-5 ending kick to the set.
“We’ve been through different losses [in other] conferences, but they were actually something that I can say, at the tip of day, as real wake-up calls,” Valdez said after contributing 16 points.
Awoken giant
“We were humbled by that loss,” she added. “We’d say that we still have so many things to enhance on as a team, so it was loss for us if that is smart.”
And matched with being pushed in a way by the Highrisers, it’s scary to think what an awoken giant in Creamline might be moving deeper into the playoffs.
“We still must perfect our system, the minor details that can help us within the endgame and would matter especially in tight games,” Valdez said.
“Glad to be ranked No. 1,” coach Sherwin Meneses said. “But this time, we are able to’t chill out because the following game can be a knockout, so that is the part where we must always give 110 percent.”
