Creamline made a triumphant return to the semifinals after eliminating Akari, 25-23, 25-20, 16-25, 25-16, in the final stepladder match of the 2026 Premier Volleyball League (PVL) All-Filipino Conference Play-in tournament Tuesday at FilOil EcoOil Centre.

The 10-time champion club, which lost all of its crowns last season, joined PLDT, Cignal and Farm Fresh in the round-robin semis starting Saturday.

“Creamline has been through a lot of do-or-die games and I have full trust in my team,” Creamline coach Sherwin Meneses said.

The Cool Smashers will face the High Speed Hitters at the Mall of Asia Arena.  

Setter Kyle Negrito held the fort and kept the Cool Smashers’ offensive flow steady on their way back to the Final Four after a disappointing sixth place finish in the mid-season Reinforced Conference.

The playmaker tallied 23 excellent sets that helped Creamline convert 59 attack points.

Alyssa Valdez showed her vintage form, putting in a double-double of 20 points, 19 off kills, and 19 digs while adding eight excellent receptions for the Cool Smashers, who snapped a  two-game head-to-head losing skid to the Chargers.

Winger Bernadeth Pons finished with 13 markers and 17 digs, Pangs Panaga scored including four kill blocks while Tots Carlos had 10 for Creamline, which survived the match despite throwing away 26 points off errors.

The Cool Smashers had to go through the dangerous path of the knockout Play-in after losing to second-seeded Cignal in the qualifying round.

Ivy Lacsina paced Akari, who eliminated Creamline’s sister team Choco Mucho in the Play-in semifinal before the Holy Week break, with 13 points.

Fifi Sharma had 12 markers while Eli Soyud and Ced Domingo had 11 each for the Chargers.