BY ABBY TORALBA
CREAMLINE kicked off the semifinals of the PVL Reinforced Conference in emphatic fashion, blanking defending champion Petro Gazz 25-21, 25-20, 25-23 yesterday at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig.
The grand slam-seeking belles got the early lead in the single-round semis with the help of Turkish import Yeliz Basa who fired 17 points, while setter Jia De Guzman contributed 19 excellent sets along with four markers.
Open spiker Jema Galanza added 14 points and eight digs, skipper Alyssa Valdez delivered 11 kills and 15 excellent receptions and middle blocker Celine Domingo had 10 markers for the Cool Smashers.
Creamline trounced Choco Mucho 15-25, 25-20, 25-20, 28-26 eight days ago.
“Siyempre happy kami at nanalo kami, ilang set wala namang problema basta manalo. Pero siyempre, iyon nga three sets, siguro nga nag-improve pa iyon team namin based on doon sa eliminations,” Cool Smashers coach Sherwin Meneses said.
“Iyon naman talaga iyong hinahanap naming, mag-improve pa nang mag-improve so masaya kami,” he added.
American reinforcement Lindsey Vander Weide led the Angels with 16 kills, while MJ Phillips and Aiza Maizo-Pontillas contributed 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Petro Gazz came off a 16-25, 22-25, 25-27 loss to F2 Logistics last Thursday.
