What happened in Antipolo stays in Antipolo, as defending champion Creamline shifts its focus to its remaining games in a bid to keep its title hopes alive in the 2024-25 Premier Volleyball League All-Filipino Conference.
The top-ranked Cool Smashers were off to a dangerous start in the round-robin semifinals after losing to the Petro Gazz Angels in four sets, 23-25, 22-25, 25-21, 16-25, at the Ynares Center last Saturday night.
Team captain Alyssa Valdez emphasized that there’s no room to dwell on the loss — just their second this conference after falling to PLDT in the preliminaries at the same venue.
Creamline must now redirect its attention to the crucial match-ups against Akari and Choco Mucho.
“Definitely, it wasn’t the happy-happy na Cool Smashers. But I think everyone was taking it in, trying to leave everything that happened here in Ynares and move forward,” said Valdez, who had another vintage performance with 10 points, 10 excellent digs, and 10 excellent receptions.
“It was a tough loss. I guess it’s not the ideal way to start the semifinals, but the coaches reminded us that it happened already. We have to let it go kasi importante na ‘yung mga next games namin. So as much as we want to dwell on it, we have to move forward and focus on the next game.”
(C) PVL Images
The silence was deafening inside Creamline’s dugout post-game, but head coach Sherwin Meneses and his staff quickly shattered it. They reiterated to the squad that the battle is far from over and their focus must now shift to the challenges ahead.
The Cool Smashers, however, must win convincingly against the Chargers on Tuesday and the Flying Titans on Thursday to give themselves the best possible chance of securing one of the two Finals tickets.
“Very quiet, but sila coach kasi reminded us na if we stay like this kami rin ‘yung maapektuhan talaga. So siya rin ‘yung nagsabi na iwan na natin dito, move forward, and focus sa training tomorrow,” said Valdez.
The loss may have put a significant dent in Creamline’s five-peat drive, but Valdez and the rest of the Cool Smashers have embraced the challenge of navigating uncharted territory to keep their championship hopes alive.
“Yeah, it’s not the start that we wanted. The challenge is very big, but… accepted. We put ourselves in this situation, kami ‘yung kailangan na gumawa ng paraan kung gusto talaga namin kahit papaano ma-save ‘yung season na ‘to.”
#WATCH: Alyssa Valdez admits Creamline didn’t have the best start, leading to their Game 1 loss against Petro Gazz in the #PVL2025 All-Filipino semis round 🏐
📹 @jonashdcd /Tiebreaker Times pic.twitter.com/Ynu3kG2Rx1
— Tiebreaker Times (@tiebreakertimes) March 29, 2025
