SANTA ROSA — Chery Tiggo libero Jennifer Nierva was left in awe after the Crossovers’ massive straight-set win over defending champion Creamline in the elimination round of the 2024 Premier Volleyball League All-Filipino Conference.
Coming off a two-game losing skid, Chery Tiggo bounced back with a stunning 25-18, 26-24, 25-23 win against the Cool Smashers on Saturday at the Santa Rosa Sports Complex here.
The victory also halted the latter’s 19-game winning streak.
The former UAAP Best Libero recalled that only a few months ago, she was in search of answers on how Chery Tiggo could defeat such a formidable foe in Creamline.
This came after witnessing their flawless performance against Choco Mucho in Game 2 of the Second All-Filipino Conference finals.
“So, story time. Nung championship last conference, nanood kami kasi inintay namin, siyempre Best Outside namin ‘yan (Eya Laure). So nanood kami ng entire game, tapos sobrang amazed talaga ako sa Creamline,” told Nierva with a smile.
“Then napatanong ako tapos sabi ko, ‘Paano namin matatalo yung Creamline?’ Kasi system-wise ang solid ng sistema nila, attackers, defense, passing. Even kapag nagsa-scout kami sa kanila, hindi ko makita kung paano namin sila bubutasan eh,” she added.
Now, Nierva finally has the answer that she has been searching for.
The Crossovers pulled off a massive sweep against the Cool Smashers – their first defeat in straight sets after almost five years.
Creamline last absorbed a sweep during the 2019 Reinforced Conference, losing to Petro Gazz, 25-22, 26-24, 25-22, in the eliminations.
The 24-year-old defensive ace also credited the team’s coaching staff for switching things up, allowing them to recover from their back-to-back losses to Choco Mucho and Farm Fresh.
“So I’m just so happy na dumating kami sa point na nagkaroon kami ng jelling inside the court,” said Nierva. “Siguro, yung familiarity, tapos with the help of our coaches, yung system na binago nila since yung loss namin sa Farm Fresh… Talagang ramdam ko talaga si Coach Kungfu [Reyes], lahat ng coaches, Coach Brian [Esquibel], Coach Yani [Fernandez].”
She added, “Nag-iisip talaga sila [kung] ano pwedeng mangyari kasi hindi ‘to pwede mangyari ulit. Hangga’t meron tayong kakalabanin, meron tayong chance manalo.
“‘Di porket nasa taas sila, sila na yung panalo. Hindi. Kaya natin ‘tong baguhin.”
