Creamline, Farm Fresh collide for finals berth

Games today:

(FilOil EcoOil Centre)

4 p.m. — Creamline vs Farm Fresh

6:30 p.m. — PLDT vs Cignal

Cignal is through to the finals of the 2026 Premier Volleyball League (PVL) All-Filipino Conference.

It’s now up to traditional powerhouse Creamline and gutsy young squad Farm Fresh to dispute which team will complete the championship cast in a virtual do-or-die match as the round-robin semifinals action reaches an exciting climax today at the FilOil EcoOil Centre.

All eyes will be on the Cool Smashers and Foxies when they battle at 4 p.m. for the right to face the already waiting Super Spikers in the best-of-three championship.

Both victims of unbeaten Cignal, Creamline and semis newbie Farm Fresh carry 1-1 win-loss slates, turning their second meeting in the season-ending conference into a winner-take-all classic.

However, the Foxies will be riding with a winning momentum heading into the duel following a morale-boosting, 25-23, 18-25, 25-19, 25-23, victory over top-seeded PLDT last Tuesday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Farm Fresh, which barged into the Final Four for the first time since joining the league in 2023, is now looking to make a historic finals breakthrough for the young franchise.

Foxies Japanese head coach Koji Tsuzurabara a admits it will be an uphill climb taking on a well-experienced 10-time champion Creamline in a high-stakes match but Farm Fresh is ready to take the challenge.

“Farm Fresh just started in 2023. Reaching the top four is difficult enough, too high a hurdle. Next for us is Creamline which is always in the top four. My team understands that we are the challenger here but we are ready to take that challenge,” said the same tactician who steered disbanded Petro Gazz to the same conference throne last year.

Leading the Foxies’ charge is multi-awarded opposite spiker Trisha Tubu, whose performance will greatly impact the team’s direction.

After a quiet 13 points in Farm Fresh’s four-set loss to the Super Spikers to start the semis, Tubu exploded for 28 points to eliminate the High Speed Hitters in the finals contention.

“Coach constantly reminds us that we’re the challenger so the pressure is always on the other team. I think that mindset helped us loosen up and just play our game. If given the chance, we’ll grab it and won’t let anyone take it away from us,” Tubu said.

Creamline, on the other hand, will not let Farm Fresh make a repeat of its four-set upset in the preliminaries.

The Cool Smashers are itching for payback and a rebound from a 13-25, 25-13, 16-25, 16-25, loss to Cignal that pushed them on a dangerous position of missing the finals for a fourth straight conference.

Veterans Bernadeth Pons, Jema Galanza, Tots Carlos, Alyssa Valdez, Pangs Panaga and setter Jia Morado-De Guzman need to get their acts together to continue their quest back to the throne since completing a grand slam in 2024.

Meanwhile, the Super Spikers prime up for a third try at a breakthrough title in a no-bearing game against also-ran sister team High Speed Hitters at 6:30 p.m.

Cignal has advanced to its first AFC finals and third championship appearance after runner-up finishes in the 2022 Reinforced Conference and 2024 Invitational Conference.

“Of course, we still want to get a win and build a good momentum so that we’ll have a sustained good performance heading into the finals,” Super Spikers mentor Shaq delos Santos said.

PLDT has failed to sustain its impressive run in the prelims after dropping its first two semis assignments to bow out of contention.

The High Speed Hitters will try to regain their confidence entering the consolation battle for third.