By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The Creamline Cool Smashers entered the Premier Volleyball League (PVL) Reinforced Conference winning column after defeating the Farm Fresh Foxies in four sets, 24-26, 25-23, 25-21, 25-16, on July 20, 2024, at the Philsports Arena.
With the much-needed win, the Cool Smashers avoided its worst start in the PVL and improved to a 1-1 win-loss record.
It wasn’t a walk in the park for the defending All-Filipino Conference queens as Farm Fresh pulled off a stunner in the opening set when they managed to hack out a close first-set victory.
Timely hits from the back row propelled Farm Fresh to an early 1-0 lead, while Creamline had to endure another rough start when they started to commit costly errors midway through the frame.
However, the veteran-laden Creamline team kicked off the second set with a block party to set the tone and control the match’s pace.
Despite a late scoring run from Caitlyn Viray who was able to help Farm Fresh stay within striking distance, Creamline’s import Erica Staunton delivered in the crucial stretch that leveled the playing field, 1-1.
After the momentum-shifting second set, the Cool Smashers began to steamroll their way in the third and the fourth frames, overpowering Farm Fresh with their quick 1-2 plays backstopped by their tremendous blocking.
Michele Gumabao was also huge for the Cool Smashers as her scoring efficiency helped put out every scoring run that Farm Fresh had in the last two sets.
Top-scoring for Creamline is Staunton who wrapped up the win with 26 big points built from 23 successful attacks to go alongside three blocks.
Meanwhile, Gumabao had her best game of the Reinforced Conference so far after tallying 21 markers derived from 19 successful attacks.
“Syempre masaya kami kasi first victory namin. Hopefully, magsunod-sunod na yung panalo namin and yung momentum namin tumaas. Maraming nawala, pero malakas pa naman yung team namin,” said Creamline chief tactician Sherwin Meneses after the win.
