Creamline’s Jema Galanza and Bernadeth Pons during Game 2 of the PVL All-Filipino Conference Finals.–MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
Creamline’s most recent campaign in the Premier Volleyball League was far from perfect.
But despite going through a lot of ups and downs in the All-Filipino Conference, the Cool Smashers proved that they are still the queens of volleyball after successfully defending their throne against sister team Choco Mucho, 20-25, 25-20, 22-25, 25-22, 15-11, in front of 23,162 witnesses on late Sunday night.
“It wasn’t easy. We really had a difficult time and sometimes we would wake up unsure if we could still make it [to the Finals],” Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP) Jema Galanza said shortly after leading Creamline to its eighth franchise title.
It was also the fourth consecutive All-Filipino Conference crown by the Cool Smashers.
In the previous All-Filipino Conference, no team posed any threat to Creamline as the most successful squad in the league swept the entire conference including its title-series also against the Flying Titans.
The Cool Smashers were at the top of their game and looked like they were about to do the same in the first of conference this year until Chery Tiggo dragged Creamline back to earth and broke a blistering 19-game winning run by the latter with a straight-sets shocker.
Pillar
It was a wake-up call that even Creamline pillar Alyssa Valdez could not ignore.
“It humbled [each] one of us,” Valdez previously told the Inquirer. “At the end of the day, it’s nice to always win. But sometimes you have to feel also—not necessarily losing—but to be humbled.”
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Losses to Petro Gazz and PLDT also in the preliminary round put Creamline at risk of missing the semifinals but the Cool Smashers somehow made it through, famously edging the High Speed Hitters by just a point to qualify as the last semifinalist.
“We needed to be reminded that we are also like any other team—that we have to work harder this time,” the three-time MVP added.
Creamline fans cheer for the Cool Smashers during Game 2 of the PVL All-Filipino Conference Finals. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
The playoffs could have gone better for Creamline as well. It opened the semifinals with a first loss to the Sisi Rondina-led Flying Titans before a contentious victory against eventual conference MVP Brooke van Sickle and Petro Gazz and a revenge act on the Crossovers.
“Sometimes we joke around and ask if we should already plan a vacation because we were so close to having our goal slip from our reach,” Galanza said after ending the conference on top despite many thinking that Creamline would not be able to pull through.
If anything, this recently concluded conference has only taught not only the doubters, but the Cool Smashers as well, that they are still the formidable crew that has dominated the competition for the longest time.
“We now know that we can fight … this was a challenge for us and we were tested by this [conference] and hopefully we learned a lot,” Galanza said.
And Creamline’s story does not end there. The Cool Smashers intend to add to its legacy in the conferences to come.