Creamline completes title sweep

Perfection.

Creamline showed what a real champion is made of as it ruled the Premier Volleyball League All-Filipino Conference flawlessly in front of a record 24,459 crowd inside the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Cool Smashers displayed heart and nerves of steel to finish off sister team Choco Mucho, 22-25, 25-20, 29-27, 24-26, 15-12, in Game 2 of the best-of-three finals Saturday night for their third straight all-Filipino crown.

Veteran wingers Alyssa Valdez, who iced the match, finals Most Valuable Player Tots Carlos and Jema Galanza played the pivotal roles in pulling Creamline through in the action-packed showdown that kept the audience, which set the biggest Philippine volleyball live crowd, up on their feet from the opening serve to the final point.

Carlos delivered another scoring clinic with 26 points she all collected off attacks while Best Open Spiker winner Galanza had 21 markers from 18 kills, two kill blocks and an ace she laced with 20 excellent receptions and nine digs to lead the Cool Smashers to their third tournament sweep after achieving the same feat in the 2019 and 2022 Open Conferences.

Bernadeth Pons came off the bench to chip in 14 points, Best Middle Blocker awardee Jeanette Panaga got 11 while Valdez had eight markers for the Cool Smashers, who had to sweat it out against the gallant first time finalist Choco Mucho.

Setter Kyle Negrito dished out 22 excellent sets to help Creamline convert 81 attack points.

Creamline proved that its system remained the best in the land despite missing the services of now abroad-based superstar setter Jia Morado-De Guzman and Ced Domingo as it snatched its fifth all-local title and seventh PVL overall without dropping a single game in 15 matches of the season-ending tournament.

The Cool Smashers blasted Choco Mucho, which lost a total of 11 head-to-head games to the Cool Smashers since joining the league in 2019, in four sets in the series opener last Thursday.

Creamline got into trouble in the early goings of the fifth set as Choco Mucho carried the momentum of its extended fourth set escape to go down, 3-6, but the squad calmly chipped away its deficit before Michele Gumabao and Pangs Panaga scored back-to-back hits after Regine Arocha's costly service error to take an 11-9 advantage.

Valdez hammered a kill to push the Cool Smashers at matchpoint, but Conference MVP Sisi Rondina saved one from an off the block kill. Valdez then called it a night with the smashing the finishing blow.

Rondina scored a finals record 33 points with 29 coming off spikes in a lost cause for the Flying Titans. She also tallied seven digs and nine excellent receptions while Maddie Madayag and Kat Tolentino posted 16 and 15, respectively, for Choco Mucho.