Creamline winger Tots Carlos made a strong case for retaining the coveted Most Valuable Player award after churning out impressive numbers after the elimination round of the Premier Volleyball League All-Filipino Conference.

Carlos, who won the Open and Invitational Conference MVP honors last year, powered the defending champion Cool Smashers back to another semifinals stint with her all-around performance which propelled her into one of the top contenders for the highest individual honor.

The 24-year-old converted open spiker landed at sixth in the scoring department with 13.8 points per game and was in the top five of three other skills categories.

Carlos, who made a huge impact in Creamline’s campaign and filled the void left by the absence of injured skipper Alyssa Valdez, ranked second in spiking with 37.21 percent success rate behind teammate Michele Gumabao (40.43 percent) and just above another Cool Smasher Jem Galaza (36.40 percent).

The University of the Philippines product is listed at No. 3 on service winners with an average of 0.36 per set behind category leader and another MVP candidate Creamline setter Jia Morado-de Guzman (0.46 per set) and Petro Gazz’s Grethcel Soltones (0.44 per set).

On the defensive end, Carlos is the only non-libero in the top five of reception with 38.37 percent efficiency rate.

Last year’s Reinforced Conference MVP Mylene Paat of Chery Tiggo topped the scoring category with 18.5 points per game followed by F2 Logistics’ Kim Kianna Dy with 15.8 points per outing.

Aby Maraño of the Cargo Movers led the blocking department with 0.73 kill blocks per set ahead of Remy Palma of Petro Gazz with 0.70 blocks per frame and Rosely Doria of Cignal (0.69)

Libero Kath Arado of PLDT displayed her dominance on floor defense, besting the rest of the field in digs with 6.80 digs per set and reception with 63.86 percent efficiency rate.

Behind Arado in reception were Petro Gazz’s Cienne Cruz (49.44 percent) and Dawn Macandili of F2 Logistics (44.89 percent). Macandili was No. 2 in digs (6.00) followed by Buding Duremdes of Chery Tiggo (4.82).

De Guzman is poised to collect her eighth Best Setter award after averaging 7.32 excellent sets per frame way ahead of closest pursuers Rhea Diamculangan of PLDT (5.13) and Kim Fajardo of F2 Logistics (4.80).

Individual awards is set to be distributed in Game 2 of the best-of-three finals.