Alyssa Valdez delivered the goods in the fifth set as the Creamline Cool Smashers cruised to a 22-25, 25-20, 29-27, 24-26, and 15-12 victory over the Choco Mucho Flying Titans in Game 2 of the PVL All-Filipino Conference finals on Saturday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Used sparingly in the first four sets, Valdez was unleashed by Cool Smashers head coach Sherwin Meneses in the fifth frame, where they turned a 3-6 deficit into an 8-all score.
An error by Creamline’s Diana Carlos gave the Choco Mucho its last taste of the lead at 9-8 before Flying Titans’ Regine Arocha committed a costly service error that tied the score at 9-all.
Michele Gumabao then gave Creamline the lead at 10-9 before Jeanette Panaga scored on a block and an attack for a 12-10 advantage, but Cherry Rondina pulled Choco Mucho to within 11-12 via a drop hit.
The Cool Smashers reached championship point on an attack by Gumabao and another error by the Flying Titans. Choco Mucho managed to save a match point courtesy of Kat Tolentino, but Valdez secured a championship for Creamline with a powerful hit.
Carlos top-scored with 26 points, while Galanza chipped in 20 markers for the Cool Smashers, which clinched their seventh PVL championship by closing the best-of-three series at 2-0.
“’Yung love namin sa isa’t isa, ‘yung pagod namin ayaw naming talagang masayang,” Galanza said in a post-game interview. “Sabi nga ng coaches one point at a time, walang madadaan sa madalian.”
“Pero big factor din talaga sa championship namin si ate Ly, ‘yung leadership niya hindi mapapantayan. Solid talaga,” she added. “Kaya nung pumasok siya nung fifth set sabi ko ‘Sh-t! Amin na ito (championship)’.”
Rondina finished with 33 points to lead the way for the Flying Titans, which achieved their first-ever runner-up finish in the competition.
The post Alyssa Valdez guides Creamline to 7th PVL title win first appeared on Fastbreak.
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