Alyssa Valdez attacks during Creamline’s win over Army in the 2022 PVL Invitational Conference. PVL PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Alyssa Valdez is looking forward to improving her craft when Creamline faces two foreign teams Kobe Shinwa University of Japan and KingWhale Taipei in the semifinal round of the Premier Volleyball League (PVL) Invitational Conference.
The three-time league MVP led another balanced attack by Creamline as it dominated Army Black Mamba, 25-20, 25-22, 25-16, on Saturday to finish the elimination round with the best record at 5-1.
In the semifinals, however, the top four local teams will start from scratch as they will be joined by Japanese and Taiwanese squads to play another round-robin, where the two teams with the best records clash in a winner-take-all final on August 14.
Valdez believes playing against foreign teams will only make their team better.
“As a team, this is the first time that we will compete against international teams. We’re very excited as a team and I feel like we will learn a lot from them,” said Valdez in Filipino after scoring a game-high 15 points.
“Hopefully our team will become stronger in the upcoming games. We’re really looking forward to learning more and gaining experience from our opponents.”
The Philippine women’s volleyball team star said the secret to their strong start is the “underdog” mindset of the Cool Smashers every game.
“The way my teammates and the team think is we’re always the underdogs. We take each game that we still have a lot of things to prove. And I feel like winning is something that boosts our morale,” Valdez said. “More than the confidence, our team bond has become more solid and it’s very important coming into the crucial games next round.”
Despite their impressive showing so far, the former Ateneo stalwart stressed they cannot be contented as they still have a lot of things to improve.
“More on cohesiveness and to lessen our errors. Those are the things we have to adjust coming into the semifinals since the games will definitely be tighter we have two foreign teams,” she said.
Creamline begins its semis campaign against Army Black Mamba on Thursday at Ynares Sports Center in Antipolo City. The Open Conference champion will face KingWhale and Kobe Shinwa on Aug. 10 and 11, respectively.