Erica Staunton may be the youngest import in the 2024 Premier Volleyball League Reinforced Conference, but by the end of the tournament, she proved to be the last woman standing.
The 23-year-old outside spiker played a pivotal role in ending Creamline’s six-year title drought in the import-laden conference, securing the Cool Smashers’ ninth overall championship and their second Reinforced Conference crown.
Staunton delivered 13 points as Creamline dominated Akari in the gold medal match, winning convincingly 25-15, 25-23, 25-17 on Wednesday at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.
For the Northeastern University product, success wasn’t just about being the standout player; it was about being an integral part of the team.
“I think I learned a lot, especially with MG emphasizing how this team is really centered on teamwork. I don’t think one person is the star of the show,” said Staunton.
Although she may not have been the most prolific scorer among the imports, she perfectly complemented the team’s proven winning formula.
“I think everybody pulled their weight this entire conference, and that’s how Creamline just is as a team from what I’ve seen in their past conferences before I got here,” she added.
“Overall, it’s about teamwork, trusting your teammates, and also trusting myself because I want my teammates to be able to trust me. That’s really important in building team chemistry.”
(C) PVL Images
The Reinforced Conference title had eluded the Cool Smashers for the past two editions, where they settled for bronze in 2022 and silver in 2019.
The last time they ruled the Reinforced was in 2018, with Kuttika Kaewpin and Laura Schaudt as their imports.
Even this conference didn’t start smoothly for Creamline, as they opened with a tough five-set loss to PLDT. However, that setback taught Staunton a valuable lesson in resilience.
“We had the mindset of taking it one game at a time, one set at a time, one point at a time. Especially since we started this conference with a loss, which wasn’t ideal, but it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish—and I think we finished very strong,” the American reinforcement shared.
“We learned a lot from that first loss, and similarly, we learned a lot from our loss against Petro Gazz, but we came on strong against them in the quarterfinals. With this team, it’s been incredible to see how we can learn from our mistakes, learn from our lessons, and keep pushing forward the next day.”
Staunton will remain with Creamline for the upcoming Invitational Conference, with their first game scheduled for Friday.
