Creamline banks on championship experience, trust amid threat to PVL title defense

MANILA, Philippines – The Creamline Cool Smashers are fighting an uphill battle as they attempt to keep their PVL All-Filipino championship on their side amid intense competition in the 2024 PVL All-Filipino Conference semifinals.

After losing a tightly contested five-setter against sister team Choco Mucho on Tuesday, the Cool Smashers once again needed to fight tooth and nail, this time against the Petro Gazz Angels on Thursday.

Though the match lasted only two sets, each of the frames were decided by two points — with three sets also extending beyond 25 points.

When it came down to the wire, Creamline head coach Sherwin Meneses said that they dug deep with what was in his players’ hearts to come out with the victory.

“Number one diyan yung trust eh… Ako, as a head coach ng Creamline, [ngayon ko lang] maranasan yung three losses. Yung game nandiyan naman palagi eh,” he said. 

“So, kung may trust sa isa’t isa, walang masyadong magwoworry kumbaga, gawin lang yung trabaho and healthy yung team, makakabawi at makakabawi,” he added.

Creamline will likely need to draw strength from this on Sunday when they face the Chery Tiggo Crossovers in their final semis match, which could make or break their finals bid.

Knowing that the Crossovers had their number during the preliminaries, Meneses said that they will use the coming days to recover and hopefully gain the strength to go toe-to-toe with their rivals.

“Focus muna kami doon, [sa] pahinga, especially Tots [Carlos], baka kulang pa sa tulog. So yung ano namin, number one preparation namin for Chery Tiggo, makapahinga, at makabawi sa pagod na nangyari ngayon kasi four sets, two points lang ang lamang,” said Meneses. 

“Sobrang ganda ng laban. Magpe-prepare kami maigi sa Chery Tiggo, makabawi din [sa kanila],” he continued.

The teams through to the finals will be decided on Sunday owing to the round-robin format where the top two teams with the best records move onto the championship round.