Calmed during the storm, Akari and Creamline finally tussle for crown

August Dela Cruz

The storm may have given the finalists of the PVL Reinforced Conference more time to gear up after the title bout was postponed on Monday.

Who will be more calm entering the crown duel will be known on Wednesday when eight-time champion Creamline and unbeaten Akari finally clash for the first time this conference in a one-game knockout for the title at 6 p.m. at PhilSports Arena.

The Chargers may have the disposition to wait out the rescheduling, owing to a character that Oly Okaro was wary of the first time she arrived.

“I think the whole team is very goofy but they really know now how to balance both—the goofiness but also that focus and aggression as well,” Okaro, the driving force behind Akari’s 10-game spotless run in this tournament, said.

The Cool Smashers, though, have the experience to ride out the antsy feeling of waiting out the hours before game time, having won the most championships in the league, including a previous Reinforced gold six years ago.

Bernadeth Pons (left) has been one of those picking up the slack for the absent Creamline stars. —AUGUST DELA CRUZ

Creamline, after all, owns a legacy that was not built overnight. It has taken all those victories and scattered downfalls to build a long-standing chemistry and familiarity with coach Sherwin Meneses’ proven and tested system.

It is that chemistry and system familiarity that has allowed Creamline to buck the absence of its powerful scoring trio of Alyssa Valdez, Tots Carlos and Jema Galanza and still make the final.

“[I]t’s really the collective or the whole team. And we’re just never one person,” Michele Gumabao said.

The feisty middle blocker has emerged from the bench to power Creamline’s offense, along with former Far Eastern star Bernadeth Pons, and she will again play a major role in providing veteran leadership for the Cool Smashers.

Import Erica Staunton has also been filling in the massive void left by the absent Creamline stars.

“[Erica] has the heart and that’s what we enjoy about her playing inside the court. She never gives up, She’s always there to help the team,” Gumabao said.

Akari, meanwhile, will rely on more than Okaro to light its way to a first franchise title. After personnel swaps and signing prior to this conference, Akari ended up with a powerful trio in Grethcel Soltones and Ivy Lacsina to backstop Okaro who had willed them through unfamiliar territory.

Those three cogs of Taka Minowa will be watched women for Creamline’s underrated defense, which could get a reprieve of sorts with Ced Domingo still questionable to play against her former team.

Domingio was wheeled out after Akari’s win against PLDT on Saturday.

All that action will be after sister teams PLDT and Cignal’s clash for the bronze medal at 4 p.m. and the opening game of the Invitational Conference at 1 p.m. between guest foreign teams EST Cola and Kurashiki Ablaze, the defending Invitational Conference champion.

The final four teams of the Reinforced earned a spot to play in the Invitational but due to injuries in their camp, the High Speed Hitters have begged off from that tournament, as well as Akari.

The foreign teams will battle Cignal, Creamline and replacement team Farm Fresh, which was eliminated by the Chargers in the knockout quarterfinals and finished at No. 8, after the higher placed teams declined the invite.