By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Fancied Creamline recovered from a third-set hiccup to outlast PLDT Home Fibr, 25-22, 25-18, 26-28, 25-22, in the Premier Volleyball League Reinforced Conference at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City Thursday, Oct. 13.
Invitational Conference Finals Most Valuable Player Ced Domingo delivered the clutch hits for the Cool Smashers as they picked up their first win to jumpstart their Grand Slam campaign.
Domingo finished with 17 points built on 12 attacks, including the winning spike that sealed the victory in a little over two hours.
“Ginawa ko lang yung role ko as a middle blocker,” said Domingo, who also added three blocks and three aces.
Alyssa Valdez and Turkish import Yeliz Basa also shone with 17 points apiece for the Cool Smashers, who had to dig deeper in the crunch to pull away from a 19-all fourth-set deadlock en route to the match triumph.
Also getting off to a fine start was Choco Mucho which stunned F2 Logistics, 25-21, 22-25, 25-20, 26-24.
Instead of its usual starting setter in Deanna Wong, the Flying Titans went to grizzled veteran Jem Ferrer who produced dividends and their first triumph after a heartbreaking 27-25, 25-22, 28-26 defeat to the Petro Gazz Angels Tuesday, Oct. 11.
Ferrer set the tone early and finished it for Choco Mucho that capped a dramatic fourth-set rally.
The three-time UAAP best setter and 2011 V-League Finals MVP wound up with 20 excellent sets in powering the Flying Titans to the win.
After taking a 2-0 set lead, Creamline found itself trailing at the start of the third frame as it fell to some erratic plays.
The Cool Smashers grabbed the 23-21 upperhand and appeared on sweeping the match, but Russian outside hitter Elena Samoilenko sizzled at the attack line with three straight points for 24-23 that gave thema flicker of hope as they went on to win the set.
But Creamline was quick to regroup in the fourth with Jia De Guzman distributing the ball well and Kyla Atienza toughening their floor defense that halted PLDT’s run.
Samoilenko still finished strong with a 24-point production, but it was still not enough to steer PLDT to the solo lead as they evened their win-loss record to 1-1.
