WHEN Tots Carlos received her Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP) trophy right after Creamline’s historic Premier Volleyball League (PVL) All-Filipino Conference title sweep before a mammoth Smart Araneta Coliseum crowd Saturday night, she was quick to share it with all her teammates.
It encapsulated how the Cool Smashers’ magical season went — winning via old-fashioned collective team effort.
Creamline had to dig deeper to its already loaded bench after losing two key cogs from its championship runs in the past in cerebral setter Jia de Guzman and lethal middle blocker Ced Domingo, who brought their talents abroad.
It started with Kyle Atienza, who admirably filled in for the gargantuan task of succeeding Ms. De Guzman.
There were also no shortages in plugging in the equally gaping hole left by Ms. Domingo up front as Pangs Panaga, Risa Sato and fresh Game Two hero Lorie Bernardo all admirably answered the call.
And Creamline captain Alyssa Valdez, the unchallenged leader of the band, was all praises of her squad.
“No words can express how proud I am with the effort on Saturday and every single game of this conference,” said Ms. Valdez, who was the catalyst in the mighty and proud franchise’s dynastic reign.
Ms. Valdez said their mantra of taking it a step at a time worked wonders.
“Our mantra this conference, one game at a time, one point at a time literally,” she said. “Everyone had their moment this conference, that’s one thing our coaches prepared us for.”
For Creamline coach Sherwin Meneses, he’s just happy they won and they are healthy. — Joey Villar