Valdez, Morado help Creamline sweep 1st round

Alyssa Valdez and Jia Morado made sure the house would be in order on Saturday night before they leave and join national team abroad.

The backbone of powerhouse Creamline team conspired to crush BaliPure, 25-8, 25-19, 25-14, on Saturday night and making a clean sweep of the first round of the Premier Volleyball League Open Conference at Filoil Flying V Centre.

Valdez scored 18 points, including four aces, while Morado flicked 12 excellent sets as the Cool Smashers penciled their eight victory in as many games.

“The important thing is we got enough confidence going to the next round because other teams are starting to jell and gain confidence as well,” said Morado, who, with Valdez, is set to join the national team that is training in Thailand.

The Creamline stars are set to leave on Sept. 18 along with fellow PVL stars Maddie Madayag and Jovelyn Gonzaga.

And although they will miss the first few games in the second round, Morado said she’s confident the team can hold its own.

“We are trained whether you are first six or second six; I know they can handle it from here,” said Morado, who will leave ball distribution duties to relief setter Kyle Negrito.

“I told Kyle to just play her game and our spikers are trained to communicate with her,” Morado added.

Earlier, PacificTown-Army arrested a three-game losing skid, beating Chef’s Classics, 25-18, 25-18, 25-13.

The Lady Troopers upped their record to 3-3, while extending the Red Spikers’ losing stretch to six games.

Honey Royse Tubino ignited a 6-0 run to break a 15-all deadlock in the second frame, putting PacificTown-Army in the driver’s seat. The Lady Troopers out-attacked the Red Spikers, 15-8, in that set.

Jema Galanza added eight points for Creamline, which pounced on error-prone BaliPure early on. The Water Defenders committed 11 unforced errors in the opening set alone as they eventually absorbed their fifth loss in seven games.