MANILA – Creamline Cool Smashers and Ateneo-Motolite Lady Eagles reached the finals of the Premier Volleyball League Open Conference after dispatching their semifinal round foes over the weekend at the San Juan Arena.
The Cool Smashers completed a two-game sweep of the Petro Gazz Angels in the best-of-three semifinals with a come-from-behind victory 21-25, 25-18, 25-21, 25-13 in Game 2.
Alyssa Valdez led the way with 14 points, while Jessica Galanza and Michelle Gumabao added 12 markers apiece for the Cool Smashers, which were eyeing their second straight title this year after ruling the Reinforced Conference.
After losing the opening set, the Cool Smashers had a strong response in the second set behind the trio of Valdez, Galanza and Gumabao for an early lead before preventing the run of the Angels.
The Cool Smashers trailed early in the third but managed to bounce back to force an 18-all score before running away with 7 straight points. In the fourth, the Cool Smashers went for the kill with an early double-digit lead.
“We’re really thankful na nakaabot kami sa dulo,” said leading MVP candidate Valdez. “It’s just a really good feeling getting back in the finals. This was one of our goals talaga.”
On the other hand, the Lady Eagles survived a tough stand by BanKo Perlas Lady Spikers to score a 21-25, 23-25, 25-17, 27-25, 21-19 win in the do-or-die Game 3 of their series.
After battling back from two sets down, the Lady Eagles surged to an 8-3 start behind Kat Tolentino and Bea de Leon. The Lady Spikers countered with a huge run to reach the match point at 14-11.
But the Lady Eagles did not give up. Points from Deanna Wong and Madeleine Madayag tied the scores at 14-all before they forced several deadlocks, the last at 19-all. An error by the Lady Spikers and a shot from Ponggay Gaston completed the win for Motolite./PN
