Creamline clinched the second seat in the semifinals after dispatching the also-ran Chery Tiggo, 25-14, 25-20, 21-25, 28-26 in the 2022 Premier Volleyball League Invitational Conference at the Filoil EcoOil Centre, Thursday.
Jema Galanza scored a game-high 23 points on 21 attacks and two aces to go along with seven excellent receptions to help the Cool Smashers tie Cignal at the top spot with identical 4-1 win-loss slates.
“Okay naman yung naging game today, yung Chery talagang lalaban din talaga ‘yan. ‘Di basta basta magpapatalo ‘yan syempre pro na tayo ngayon e. Hopefully, makakuha pa kami ng isang panalo bago mag-second round para maganda yung ‘pag pasok ng semis,” said Creamline head coach Sherwin Meneses.
Already a point away from securing the dub, Mylene Paat pulled the Crossovers to within one, 23-24, before an attack error coming from Alyssa Valdez sent the fourth set to a deuce.
Paat committed a service error in the following play but Cza Carandang came through with a quick attack to lock the scores anew. Celine Domingo put the Cool Smashers at match point, 26-25, but Carandang answered right back to force another deuce.
Sealing the game were Jema Galanza and Jia De Guzman, who scored off a spike and an ace, respectively.
Tots Carlos scored 20 points to go along with 14 excellent digs for Creamline while Valdez had 16 points and 13 digs in the four-set victory. De Guzman dished out 23 excellent sets and scored a point.
On the other hand, Chery Tiggo was led by Paat with 15 on 10 attacks, three kill blocks, and two aces. She also had six excellent digs in the loss that dropped them to 1-5 in the standings tied with Petro Gazz at the last spot.
Creamline, who joined the HD Spikers in the semis cast, will cap off its elimination round campaign against Army-Black Mamba on Saturday at 11:30 AM.
