Philippine Daily Inquirer

TOP SEED CREAMLINE FORGES FINALS SHOWDOWN VS PAYMAYA

- By Marc Anthony Reyes @marcreyesI­NQ

What was supposed to be a classic battle to the finish turned into a cruise for Creamline, which crushed a Pocari-Air Force squad missing its key player, 2515, 25-18, 25-16, Friday to reach the Premier Volleyball League Season 2 Reinforced Conference at Filoil Flying V Centre.

Creamline will go up against PayMaya, which took a much more difficult route executing a dramatic comeback to outlast BanKo Perlas, 22-25, 14-25, 25-14, 25-23, 15-12, in Game 3 of their semifinal duel.

Tess Rountree banged in 35 points for PayMaya, countering Lakia Bright’s rousing 41-point performanc­e for the Perlas Spikers.

Perlas and Pocari will fight for third place also on Sunday.

Alyssa Valdez and Thai Kuttika Kaewpin had 15 points each as the top-seeded Cool Smashers came back from a 0-1 series deficit to clinch a championsh­ip berth via sudden death.

Pocari was without twoway star Myla Pablo, the team’s vaunted hitter who also does a good job covering the floor on defense. Pablo hurt her back during pregame warmups.

 ?? —AUGUST DELA CRUZ ?? The Cool Smashers celebrate their victory.
—AUGUST DELA CRUZ The Cool Smashers celebrate their victory.

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