THE Creamline Cool Smashers leaned on their championship experience and veteran savvy to hold off the Choco Mucho Flying Titans in an epic 22-25, 25-20, 29-27, 24-26, 15-12 victory in Game 2 of the Premier Volleyball League All-Filipino Conference finals on Saturday night, Dec. 16, 2023 before a record-setting crowd at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Pushed and tested to the limit by the Flying Titans, the Cool Smashers showed its championship poise, battling back from three points down in the decider to win the deciding fifth set and capture their seventh PVL crown.
Down 6-3 in the fifth set, Creamline coach Sherwin Meneses subbed in Michele Gumabao, Pangs Panaga and Alyssa Valdez, a move that paid dividends as the team went down the stretch. The aforementioned trio then delivered crucial points later in the match to put Creamline in front for good.
Creamline earlier won the series’ opener, 25-23, 19-25, 26-24, 25-22.
Half of the crowd of 24,459 fans at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, a new record in Philippine volleyball, erupted in deafening roars as Bernadette Pons wrapped up the crucial third set battle after a Creamline successful defense on Sisi Rondina’s power blast.
The mammoth crowd surpassed the 22,843 fans who watched the UAAP Season 78 finals between La Salle and Ateneo in 2016.
“It’s the love for each other. We didn’t want our effort to go to waste,” said a teary-eyed Jema Galanza, who clinched the game’s top honors with a 21-point performance.
“Our mindset was to play it one point at a time. We didn’t need to rush.”
Truly, the Cool Smashers worked for every point to get back into the match, with Valdez bucking a couple of foiled attacks with three straight hits, Risa Sato scoring on a quick attack, and Galanza adding two more hits to force an 8-all count in the fifth.
The win allowed Creamline to complete its amazing 15-game sweep of the season-ending conference and notch their second All-Filipino crown in the season as the Cool Smashers added another chapter to the franchise’s storied success in women’s volleyball.
Tots Carlos topscored for Creamline with 26 points, while Pons and Panaga came up with 14 and 11 points, respectively.
Rondina sizzled with a personal-high 33 points, including 29 on attacks, and went on to capture the tournament’s MVP honors, while Maddie Madayag and Kat Tolentino finished with 16 and 15 points, respectively. Bea de Leon, Caitlyn Viray and Arocha scored six points apiece.
