Creamline never had it easy throughout the course of its redemption campaign in the 2026 Premier Volleyball League (PVL) All-Filipino Conference.

Three losses in the preliminary round and taking a backdoor entry to the round-robin semifinals via the dangerous knockout Play-ins path, all while dealing with health issues in their rosters, only strengthened the resolve of the 10-time champion Cool Smashers.

And when push came to shove, Creamline clung to the lessons learned and the experience of going through rough patches to pull through in a hard-fought and all-important win to start the Final Four.

The Cool Smashers’ composure and grace under pressure spelled the difference in their amazing, 22-25, 27-25, 19-25, 28-26, 15-10, comeback victory over top-seeded PLDT on Saturday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Backed by a sea of pink in the 12,411-strong crowd, Creamline completed a reversal of its preliminary round tormentor that drew them closer to a return to the finals since its last championship appearance in the same tournament last year.

Head coach Sherwin Meneses attributed the mental toughness of the Cool Smashers to the tough battles that they’ve gone through.

“It’s a huge help for us that we’ve already gone through tough situations before. Through the good times and the bad, we’ve experienced it all,” Meneses said.

Compared to the well-rested High Speed Hitters, Creamline had to survive the final stage of the Play-ins in a four-set victory over Akari to get back in the semifinals after a disappointing sixth place finish in the Reinforced Conference.

Coming back from injuries, Bernadeth Pons and Jema Galanza spearheaded the Cool Smashers’ assault.

Pons dropped 28 points, highlighted by 21 attacks, including crucial hits in the fifth set, capped by a thunderous kill for the match point advantage. Pons also had 16 digs and 22 excellent receptions for the Cool Smashers, who survived the two-hour, 34-minute duel despite throwing away 31 errors.

Galanza scored all of her 17 points on kills while veteran Alyssa Valdez added 10 markers for Creamline.

“But the most important thing for us in this game was we played healthy. That we played with everyone in 100 percent tip-top shape,” Meneses said.

“And also the difficult experiences that we’ve gone through really toughened us up for the semis.”

But the job is far from over as the Cool Smashers meet Cignal on Tuesday in a match that will have huge implications in the race for a finals berth.

The two teams have played a total of 10 sets in their tournament head-to-head. Creamline outlasted the Super Spikers to end the prelims but Cignal got back at the Cool Smashers in the Qualifying round.