MANILA, Philippines –The Creamline Cool Smashers and the Petro Gazz Angels clinched the top two spots in the 2024-2025 Premier Volleyball League All-Filipino Conference preliminaries after dominant wins on Thursday, February 20, at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City.
Creamline sealed the top spot after routing the Galeries Tower Highrisers, 25-15, 26-24, 25-19, rebounding from a stunning five-set loss against the PLDT High Speed Hitters last February 15, which ended the Grand Slam champion’s 19-game winning streak.
Creamline finished the preliminary round with a 10-1 win-loss record, the same mark as Petro Gazz, but the Cool Smashers claimed No. 1 due to a superior set ratio.
Petro Gazz also wrapped up the preliminaries with a sweep, downing Nxled, 25-19, 25-14, 25-17, in the nightcap.
Brooke Van Sickle put up 17 points, while MJ Phillips added 14 to steer the Angels to their ninth straight win this season.
“I think there is a slight advantage when facing a lower-seed in the [qualifying round],” Creamline head coach Sherwin Meneses said in Filipino.
“But I think this is the time that we should not be relaxed since every game will be a knockout game. This is the part where we need to give our 110%,” he added.
Creamline will face the 12th seed Nxled Chameleons in the qualifying round, where the winners will advance to the playoffs, while the losing squads will enter a play-in tournament to revive their chances.
The quarterfinals will then feature a best-of-three series, while the semifinals will follow a round-robin format, with a tiebreaker if needed.
Creamline’s win was highlighted by a thrilling second-set comeback, which saw them rise from a 15-22 deficit through an 11-2 blast.
Tots Carlos led Creamline with 18 points off 16 attacks, while Alyssa Valdez added 16 markers on 15 attacks to ward off the Galeries Tower.
Roselle Baliton was the lone double-digit scorer for the Highrisers with 10 points off 5 blocks.
For Petro Gazz, Djanel Cheng also helped orchestrate the offense with 14 excellent sets alongside 2 markers on top of Blove Barbon’s 10 receptions and 7 digs for the hottest team in the league.
The Angels will face the 11th-ranked Capital1 Solar Spikers in the qualifying round.
Galeries Tower stayed at the 10th spot with a 1-10 slate, while Nxled, despite toting a similar 1-10 record, slid to dead-last in the standings due to a poorer set ratio.
The qualifying round will begin on February 27 at the PhilSports Arena. – Rappler.com