Creamline setter Jia De Guzman felt elated to see the rest of the Cool Smashers step up and help one another in their dominant victory over sister team Choco Mucho in the 2023 Premier Volleyball League All-Filipino Conference on Tuesday night.
The league-leading Creamline saw three of its players score in double digits in their 25-18, 25-13, 25-14 victory over the Flying Titans at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Michele Gumabao, Ced Domingo, and Jema Galanza all poured 15 points apiece in the victory that put them at the top of the standings with a 3-0 win-loss slate. Galanza also had 11 excellent digs and eight excellent receptions in the win.
“I didn’t know that [they all scored 15 points], amazing. I’m very happy kasi everyone’s really stepping up,” said De Guzman, who played stellar once more and finished with 25 excellent sets along with two markers.
“If merong isang nahihirapan maka-puntos everyone is there to cover, to help. And kahit hindi sa’kin manggaling yung second ball, everyone knows how to set. Yun yung isang na-appreciate ko rin sa team,” she added.
De Guzman said that they still miss the presence of team captain Alyssa Valdez inside the court. But she’s happy to see everyone chip in and help fill the void left by the three-time PVL Most Valuable Player.
“We still miss having ate Ly [Valdez] inside the court. But at the same time, we know na as a team, kailangan naming mag-level up pa ng laro para makuha yung following games,” said the former Ateneo star.
But despite their strong start, De Guzman said that the team still needs to work on their performance from the service line. They also need to improve their communication inside the court after bumping into one another a couple of times.
“Yung mga unforced errors namin we have to control that. We made a lot of service errors in the first set, a lot of miscommunications in the following set,” said De Guzman.
“Maraming beses kami nagbanggaan kasi sa utak kasi namin we always want to keep moving. Minsan nawawala yung communication kaya nagbabanggaan kami. So that’s something that we have to improve also.”
