Creamline, Cignal dispute top spot
CREAMLINE and Cignal aim for the top spot in the round robin semifinals when they face each other today, November 27, in the Premier Volleyball League (PVL) Reinforced Conference at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Grand Slam-seeking Cool Smashers and the HD Spikers meet at 2:30 p.m.
Sporting identical 1-0 slates, the winner between Creamline and Cignal will clinch the top spot and most likely a Finals berth.
The Cool Smashers are coming off a 25-21, 25-20, 25-23 sweep of defending champ Petro Gazz last Thursday, the very first time they won a game in straight sets in this conference.
“This win is big for us, especially because we did it in three sets. The points (off of three set wins) are very important, especially if teams ended up tied in records before the Finals like in the eliminations,” said Creamline head coach Sherwin Meneses.
“It’s huge for us that we already have three points. Hopefully, we can play better next game because we still have a long way to go,” added Meneses.
Creamline is expected to lean once more on the heady setter Jia de Guzman as well as scorers Alyssa Valdez, Jema Galanza and Turkish reinforcement Yeliz Basa.
On the other hand, the HD Spikers likewise blanked the Chery Tiggo Crossovers, 28-26, 25-17, 25-13, on the same day, with their American import leading the way with 21 points despite coming off the bench anew.
“Hopefully, we can maintain this because we still have a lot of work to do. Just because we won in straight sets, it doesn’t mean that our next two games will be easy,” said Cignal head coach Sherwin Meneses.
“It’s going to be a lot tougher but what I can assure you is that we will give them (the Cool Smashers) a good fight.”