By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The Creamline Cool Smashers are one series win away from bagging a legendary Premier Volleyball League (PVL) Grand Slam championship title after taking down the Cignal HD Spikers, 25-18, 29-27, 17-25, 25-20, to book a ticket to the Invitational Conference finals on September 9, 2024, at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
If the Cool Smashers will be able to pull off a championship run in the Invitational Conference, they will be joining a short list of franchises in Philippine sports to achieve a Grand Slam feat at the professional level.
Creamline already completed a back-to-back PVL championship outing after dominating the All-Filipino Conference followed by another golden trophy in the Reinforced Conference.
Now that all eyes are on their road to redemption in the ongoing Invitational Conference after losing to the Kurashiki Ablaze last year, the Cool Smashers just boosted their chances this edition after they got their revenge on the Japan-based volleyball club several days ago.
Before formalizing their grand finals entry, the Cool Smashers had to endure a tough challenge from the HD Spikers in their third match of the Invitational Conference.
After running away in the first two sets, the HD Spikers stunned them in the third frame with a one-sided win to stay alive in the match.
However, when everything was on the line for the Cool Smashers, import Erica Staunton and Michele Gumabao joined hands in the most crucial stretch in the fourth period.
The unstoppable duo became the biggest headache for the Cignal middle blockers as their powerful outside hits just kept on hitting the line at will, providing the much-needed scoring for Creamline to avoid any meltdown in the fourth.
Staunton maintained her poise and dominant showing in the PVL, top-scoring her team with 27 points built from 25 successful attacks.
Meanwhile, Gumabao did what he does best, and that is to score for the Cool Smashers, tallying a solid 19-point output from 16 successful attacks.
“Syempre masaya kasi nakabalik ulit kami sa finals so, may chance kami na makachampion ulit,” said Creamline chief tactician Sherwin Meneses after their win.
