By NIKOLE JAVIER
Creamline once again broke the heart Choco Mucho by scoring a masterful 25-18, 25-13, 25-14 victory in their much-anticipated showdown in the 2023 Premier Volleyball League All-Filipino Conference.
Ironically, it happened on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14 and witnessed by 9,575 cheering fans at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Cool Smashers were a joy to behold, coming through with an assortment of attacks to complete another 3-set victory to the delight of their loyal fans.
Three Creamline players shone brightest, with Jema Galanza, Ced Domingo and Michele Gumabao all tallying 15 points each.
Creamline surged to commanding 12-point leads in the first and second sets that typified their burning desire to beat their sister team.
The third set saw no glimpse of recovery from the Flying Titans once the Cool Smashers pulled away midway as they pulled away from slim 11-9 advantage with Domingo capping the rout with back-to-back points including a single block on Kat Tolentino to seal the win.
“Palitan ng errors nu’ng una. Pero sana magtuluy tuloy iyong maganda iyong nilalaro. Satisfied naman kami, mahaba pa naman iyong conference,” said Creamline coach Sherwin Meneses.
Des Cheng and Tolentino paced the Flying Titans both with an eight-point outing in the losing effort which obviously did little damage to the solid Cool Smashers side as they fall to the 1-2 hole that awaited them.
Meantime, Cignal finally barged into the win column at the expense of Akari 25-23, 25-20, 25-14 in the first game.
The HD Spikers, who started their season with back-to-back losses, breezed through the third set to end their 0-2 misery and, in turn, deal the Chargers their third straight loss.
Gel Cayuna led Cignal with 21 excellent sets whileRachel Daquis finished with 11 points off eight attacks and three blocks.
Dindin Santiago-Manabat was the lone bright spot for the Chargers with 11 points as the rest of the team was blanked with a single-digit production.
