Creamline Cool Smashers in the PVL Invitationals. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
Even with little turnaround time, Creamline has put itself in a position to complete the PVL’s first grand slam after making the title game of the Invitational Conference ahead of everyone else late Monday night.
Only a week removed from winning their ninth title, the Cool Smashers have taken a business-as-usual approach here and are undefeated heading into the no-tomorrow game against either Cignal or defending champion Kurashiki Ablaze of Japan on Friday.
Rest, after all, is for the lesser mortals.
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“[Entering] the Finals, there are no excuses,” coach Sherwin Meneses said after a 25-18, 29-27, 17-25, 25-20 victory over the HD Spikers that meant the first title game slot. “Our opponent will also be going to the Finals tired, so there are no excuses.
“We will endure our exhaustion because it’s the Finals.”
No pressure
And Bernadeth Pons, who has been Meneses’ top gun in the absence of Creamline’s prolific troika, shares that thought.
“I am so proud of the team because we don’t make excuses and just perform all out,” Pons, who didn’t waste the major playing time she got in the Reinforced Conference by winning MVP, said in Filipino. “The mental toughness is really there and the work gets lighter with every team member there to support each other.”
While the Cool Smashers will be playing Farm Fresh with no pressure at 4 p.m. on Wednesday at PhilSports Arena, the HD Spikers and the Ablaze dispute the second title game slot at 6 p.m. where returning Alas Pilipinas mainstays Vanie Gandler and Dawn Macandili-Catindig will be playing just their second game here.
That loss to the Cool Smashers gave Gandler and Macandili-Catindig the cram time to mesh with the others at Cignal as the HD Spikers will come in full force in trying to unseat the Ablaze and earn another crack at Creamline.
No team has even completed a sweet sweep of three conferences in the PVL, and Creamline is hoping that it is third time lucky.
The opportunity first came in 2022 when Creamline won the Open and Invitational Conferences but finished with the bronze in the Reinforced.