Creamline grinds out five-set win vs. Cignal to keep unblemished record

Creamline displayed its championship poise as it turned back a gritty fight from Cignal, 25-19, 26-24, 23-25, 23-25, 15-9, and kept its immaculate record in the PVL All-Filipino Conference on Saturday at the PhilSports Arena. 

The Cool Smashers lost steam in the third and fourth sets, but regained composure in the decider as they improved to 7-0 while the HD Spikers absorbed a second straight loss to fall to 5-3. 

In danger of wasting a two-set advantage, Creamline turned to experience and several veterans in the fifth set with Pangs Panaga rejecting Ishie Lalongisip and Jema Galanza unleashing a power kill from the open to bring the reigning grand slam queens to an 11-5 lead in the fifth frame. 

Cignal, who had to pull off a pair of gutsy set victories to Creamline to a fifth set, banked on Jackie Acuña, whose back-to-back quick attacks saw them trimming the gap to just three, 9-12. 

Bernadeth Pons, though, answered with a power shot of her own before two consecutive errors from Cignal allowed Creamline to complete the hard-fought victory. 

"Masaya kasi naka-recover kami doon sa third and fourth sets, syempre 'yung willingness ng Cignal nando'n eh so mahirap din talaga silang kalaban since dati pa," Creamline head coach Sherwin Meneses said. 

"Si Coach Shaq hindi magpapatalo kahit sino pa mga players nila so talagang nag-sipag sila. Siguro nakatulong din na sanay na 'yung Creamline sa mga ganitong laban so malaking advantage sa amin."

Pons top-scored with 27 points on 24 attacks, two aces, and one block together with 14 digs while Tots Carlos poured in 15 markers. Bea de Leon and Galanza added 12 and nine points each. 

The loss spoiled double-digit scoring from four Cignal players with Vanie Gandler churning out 21 points and Lalongisip posting 19 markers. Middle blockers Acuña and Roselyn Doria-Aquino tallied 16 and 11 apiece. 

—JKC, GMA Integrated News