Creamline wins their 8th PVL championship after overcoming a huge scare from sister team and rival Choco Mucho.
The Creamline dynasty remains.
Despite a scare from the Choco Mucho Flying Titans, the Creamline Cool Smashers won their eighth PVL championship after a 20-25, 25-20, 22-25, 25-22, 15-11 escape in Game 2 of the 2024 PVL All-Filipino Conference Finals at the Araneta Coliseum on Sunday.
After a huge Set 2 turnaround, Creamline proceeded to drop a crucial Set 3 to the Flying Titans, thus falling into a 2-1 set deficit.
The Cool Smashers would rally back in Set 4, forcing the Flying Titans to play catchup by two or three points in an otherwise convincing 25-22 win to force a decider.
Set 5 seemed to be finally in Creamline’s grasp after a 6-2 start courtesy of Tots Carlos, Pangs Panaga, and Bernadeth Pons.
But Choco Mucho, who recently figured out the Creamline puzzle, would not go down. First was a quick 4-1 spurt to inch closer by a point, 6-7, courtesy of Sisi Rondina and Royse Tubino.
And just as Creamline was ready to pull away again, the Flying Titans pulled off another 3-1 rally to cut a 7-10 deficit into a solitary point, 10-11.
From this point, it was all Creamline following a kill by Jema Galanza to restore a two-point advantage for her side, 12-10. Despite a reply by Choco Mucho’s Cherry Nunag, Creamline’s Bernadeth Pons and Bea de Leon sparked a 3-0 run to secure the title for the Cool Smashers.
Poetically, it was the former Flying Titan star de Leon scoring Creamline’s championship point.
Outside hitter Jema Galanza was named Finals MVP for this championship run, who scored a team-high 20 points in Sunday’s closeout game.
She was backstopped by Bernadeth Pons with 17, Tots Carlos with 16, and Pangs Panaga with 13 markers. Michele Gumabao and Bea de Leon meanwhile, notched seven markers apiece.
Kyle Negrito was also instrumental in Creamline’s victory with 23 excellent sets and was named Best Setter for the now-wrapped-up 2024 All-Filipino Conference.
For Choco Mucho, it was Sisi Rondina with another remarkable 31-point outing, followed by Royse Tubino and Cherry Nunag with 20 and 14 markers respectively. Isa Molde and Maddie Madayag also chimed in a modest 10 points apiece.
Rondina was also named one of the two Best Outside Hitters alongside Galanza for this conference, while Madayag and Creamline’s Panaga were named Best Middle Blockers.
As another silver lining, the Flying Titans’ libero Thang Ponce also took home Best Libero honors to cap off Choco Mucho’s runner-up finish.
Petro Gazz comes in third
Creamline’s victory also means that Petro Gazz now claims third place in the current All-Filipino conference. Per the PVL, the Angels edged out the Chery Tiggo Crossovers “with a superior points ratio of 1.126 to 0.888” to secure the third-place finish.
Earlier on Sunday though, Chery Tiggo had evened things up against Petro Gazz with their 16-25, 11-25, 25-13, 25-22, 18-16 comeback in their original best-of-three series.
However, Petro Gazz gets the last laugh. On top of a third-place finish, their newfound star Brooke van Sickle was named conference Most Valuable Player, while veteran Aiza Maizo-Pontillas copped Best Outside Hitter honors.
Banner Image courtesy of the PVL.
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