MILESTONE BINGE
After racking up a hundred victories for coach Sherwin Meneses, the Creamline Cool Smashers will put themselves on the verge of another record with a repeat act over the Chery Tiggo Crossovers come Saturday.
The Cool Smashers assertively took the opener of their quarterfinal series with a tenacious 25-10, 27-25, 25-21 win on Tuesday in the PVL All Filipino Conference, and closing out the Crossovers will seal for Creamline an unbroken string of semifinal appearances the past 17 conferences.
“This team has been running [well] for so long. We’ll definitely take this as an advantage, so we can achieve more milestones in the long run,’’ said Creamline team captain Alyssa Valdez.
The three-time PVL MVP was again at the forefront of their bid for that record, punishing the Crossovers with 16 attacks mostly in the first two sets apart from protecting their side of the floor with 13 digs and nine receptions.
Kyle Negrito efficiently set up her teammates in the majority of the Smashers’ assault and had 20 excellent sets, while middle blockers Bea De Leon, Bangs Panaga and hitter Tots Carlos wound up with double-figure outputs.
“It’s very important to us, to the whole management, because we’re always banking on that familiarity in this conference and other conferences,” Valdez said. “In the end, we trust each other and we’re gonna believe in each other as well.”
Meneses netted win No. 100 since he took over as head coach of the winningest franchise that owns 10 PVL titles since 2018.
“We wouldn’t have achieved such a milestone if not for the players and the support of the management,” Meneses said. “As you all know, the goal of the team is to win games and hopefully we can win more.”
Although they topped Chery Tiggo in straight sets, the Cool Smashers didn’t secure the victory without facing a resilient challenge.
After securing the opening frame, the Smashers found themselves down by four on the latter part of the second set but were able to climb that steep hill in reversing the trend.
The Crossovers immediately threw an unforgettable set out of the window by engaging the defending champions with a far better start in Set 2.
Pauline Gaston’s stealthy drop shot, a Shaya Adorador spike and an attack error by Jema Galanza put Chery Tiggo ahead, 7-5, but the Cool Smashers rose from what would later be a four-point deficit with Bernadeth Pons and Panaga turning their fortunes around.
Panaga’s block tied the count at 25 and ended the set with an imposing block on Adorador, made painful by Chery Tiggo’s wrong rotation in a prior play.
