Games Saturday:
(Filoil EcoOil Arena)
2 p.m. — Capital1 vs PLDT
4 p.m. — Akari vs Petro Gazz
6 p.m. — Farm Fresh vs Chery Tiggo
It was the turn of Michele Gumabao, Lorie Bernardo and Bea de Leon to take the spotlight as Creamline took down Galeries Towers, 25-22, 25-17, 25-15, Thursday to get a share of the lead with sister squad Choco Mucho in the Premier Volleyball League All-Filipino Conference at the Philsports Arena in Pasig.
After firing a career-high 31 points against Akari the last time, Tots Carlos chipped in nine points but Gumabao, Bernardo and De Leon filled in the void.
Gumabao came off the bench to fire 10 points, while Bernardo shone in the middle with six points and De Leon added five points, both in two-set stints.
Alyssa Valdez added eight points for the Cool Smashers, who also got a pair of five-point outputs from Bernadeth Pons and Jema Galanza, and four points from Rose Vargas.
Kyle Negrito took the game’s best honors with an 18-excellent set performance while emphasizing the challenging nature of the competition.
“There are no easy teams in the league. Against Galeries, we had to maintain focus on our system and execute our plays,” said Negrito, who also finished with two points.
The one-hour and 18-minute victory marked Creamline’s third consecutive win, keeping it in step with Choco Mucho.
It also primed up the Cool Smashers for a challenging encounter against the formidable Chery Tiggo Crossovers on 16 March at the Sta. Rosa Sports Complex in Laguna.
“Based on their performance in the third set, it was okay because of the margin of the score,” coach Sherwin Meneses said, whose wards dominated all the scoring skills.
The Cool Smashers topped the spikes (45-32), blocks (7-2) and serves (6-1).
“We’re very happy with our performance and we’re very proud of everyone,” Valdez said.
“Coach just reminded us not to be complacent and we need to respect (our opponents) and maintain our aggressiveness. (Still), we had many lapses.”
Galeries Tower, in contrast, suffered its third straight defeat in the season-opening conference.
Ysa Jimenez glittered for Galeries with 11 points while Joy Doromal came up with nine. But lack of support from teammates, including Grazielle Bombita, Dimdim Pacres, Mary Ann Esguerra and Andrea Marzan, proved costly.
The Highrisers actually came out strong in the third frame, and led, 10-7. But the Cool Smashers countered and took four of the next five points to draw level at 11. They wrested control on a Galanza ace in the ensuing play and rolled to the victory on a decisive 13-4 finishing run.
Despite the expected three-set romp, the Cool Smashers faced a momentary challenge in the opening frame, squandering a commanding 20-13 bulge with a series of errors, including back-to-back mishits from Carlos, enabling the Highrisers to pull within 22-24. But the Cool Smashers regrouped and Negrito’s strategic play to Vargas secured the set.
Meneses made effective substitutions in the next, inserting De Leon and Pons into the rotation. The defending champions responded emphatically, zooming to a 14-6 lead and maintaining control throughout the set.
Jimenez, determined to keep the Highrisers in the game, scored on another off-the-block hit, to halt the Cool Smashers’ run, but she reimposed their will and cruised to another set-win aided by Carlota Hernandez’s attack error.
