Fancied Creamline recovered from a third-set hiccup to outlast PLDT Home Fibr, 25-22, 25-18, 26-28, 25-22, in the Premier Volleyball League Reinforced Conference at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City Thursday, Oct. 13.
Invitational Conference Finals Most Valuable Player Ced Domingo delivered the clutch hits for the Cool Smashers as they picked up their first win to jumpstart their Grand Slam campaign.
Domingo finished with 17 points built on 12 attacks, including the winning spike that sealed the victory in a little over two hours.
“Ginawa ko lang yung role ko as a middle blocker,” said Domingo, who also added three blocks and three aces.
Alyssa Valdez and Turkish import Yeliz Basa also shone for 17 points apiece for the Cool Smashers, who had to dig deep in the crunch to pull away from a 19-all fourth-set deadlock en route to the match triumph.
After taking a 2-0 set lead, Creamline found itself trailing at the start of the third frame following erratic plays.
The Cool Smashers grabbed the 23-21 upperhand and appeared on sweeping the match, but Russian outside hitter Elena Samoilenko sizzled at the attack line with three straight points for 24-23 that set the tone for the Power Hitters on their way to the set victory.
But Creamline was quick to regroup in the fourth with Jia De Guzman distributing the ball well and Kyla Atienza toughening their floor defense that halted PLDT’s run.
Samoilenko still finished strong with a 24-point production, but it was still not enough to steer PLDT to the solo lead as they evened their win-loss record to 1-1.
Meanwhile, world-class pole vaulter EJ Obiena was in attendance to support close friend Alyssa Valdez.
Obiena is expected to leave for Formia, Italy to resume his training.