Jema Galanza sat out as Creamline closed in on a semifinals spot after sending Army-Black Mamba to the brink, 25-15, 25-20, 25-12 in the 2023 Premier Volleyball League All-Filipino Conference, Tuesday at the Philsports Arena.
Galanza, who had 25 points in the Cool Smashers’ previous win against Chery Tiggo, was not fielded against the Lady Troopers as she is currently under the weather.
With Galanza out, Creamline head coach Sherwin Meneses decided to field his entire roster led by Tots Carlos, who fired 17 points on 14 attacks, two aces, and a block to rebound from a nine-point outing last Saturday.
“May opportunity lang talaga makalaro yung mga stringers. Yung training naman ng first six namin same lang din naman sa stringers so alam naman nila yung gagawin nila so happy kami kasi maganda yung nilaro nila, mahaba pa naman yung liga so matutulungan pa namin yung isa’t isa,” said Cool Smashers head coach Sherwin Meneses.
Michele Guamabao added 11 points while Rosemarie Vargas, Risa Sato, and Rizza Mandapat combined for 15 points. Vargas also had six excellent digs and four excellent receptions in the victory that put the Rebisco-backed at 5-1 in the standings.
Jia De Guzman utilized all her spikers and dished 17 excellent sets to go along with five points and four digs in an hour and 18 minutes of action.
“Masaya ako kasi hindi lang ilang points nailaro nila. Almost one set yung mga stringers, yun yung napakagandang nangyari ngayon. Sa mga next games namin alam namin kung sino pa yung mga makakatulong sa amin kasi lahat naman ‘yan ready,” he added.
Royse Tubino was the only bright spot for the Lady Troopers with 12 points along with nine excellent digs and seven excellent receptions.
Army has now dropped their 18th consecutive game since the Invitational Conference last year and fell to 0-5 in the All-Filipino Conference.
Creamline will face PLDT next Tuesday at 4:00 PM (Philsports Arena) while Army will take on Petro Gazz on Thursday also at 4:00 PM (Filoil EcoOil Centre).
