Cignal’s Ces Molina dives for the ball against Creamline in the PVL Invitational Conference semifinals. MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines—Ces Molina and the Cignal HD Spikers remained optimistic about their title hopes despite falling short against the Creamline Cool Smashers in their 2023 Premier Volleyball League (PVL) Invitational Conference semifinal match.
Molina’s 28-point outburst went down the drain as Cignal couldn’t complete a comeback against the defending champions, 25-23, 16-25, 21-25, 26-24, 10-15, on Saturday in front of 6,430 fans at Philsports Arena.
But the veteran outside hitter is still proud of her team, believing they still have a chance to be one of the top two teams advancing to the winner-take-all final, amid a triple tie at 1-2 with Cignal, F2 Logistics, and PLDT.
“It’s tiring to battle Creamline because Jia [De Guzman] is a very versatile setter and can activate all of her spikers. They are still a strong team,” said Molina in Filipino. “Credit still to my Cignal team because we still played well and fought until the end. We didn’t give up even though they were leading.”
Cignal’s four-game winning streak from the pool phase to their first win in the semis over PLDT was halted by Creamline, which leads the race with a 3-0 record after staying unbeaten in six games. But Molina said that coach Shaq Delos Santos encouraged them to be proud of their fight despite the loss.
“Coach was proud of us because it wasn’t easy to win the fifth and at least we got a point despite losing the game. It’s not yet over for us. Coach wants us to continue working hard since we’re facing two foreign teams,” she said.
Delos Santos stressed that his wards had nothing to be ashamed of after pushing the Cool Smashers to their limits.
“We have nothing to be ashamed of or we can’t feel so down because it was a good game. I’m happy because of our effort and at the same time we entertained the PVL fans,” said the Cignal coach in Filipino. “We have high respect for Creamline, knowing that they are the defending champion. We will bounce back and we won’t stop until we reach our goal.”
“I’m also proud of Ces because she always plays all out and gives her 100 percent best,” he added.
Cignal tries to keep its final hopes alive when it battles Japan’s Kurashiki Ablaze, who won their first game over Kinh Bac-Bac Ninh of Vietnam on Saturday evening.
Molina vows to avoid the mistakes they committed against Creamline in the remainder of their semis stint against the two foreign teams.
“We’ll go back to basics and try to avoid the lapses we had in the past games,” she said.