Creamline is not crying over the missed opportunity of completing a rare grand slam in the Premier Volleyball League.
Finishing with a bronze medal in the Reinforced Conference, the Cool Smashers still had a great season in the league’s first complete calendar since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Cool Smashers not only won the Open and Invitational Conferences but also got the honor of representing the country in a couple of international competitions.
Creamline gave the Philippines its best finish at sixth place in the AVC Asian Cup for Women held in Manila and participated in the ASEAN Grand Prix in Thailand.
Backed with exposure abroad, the Cool Smashers came into the import-laded conference as obvious favorites with the prospect of making a season sweep.
Creamline looked poised to win it all but a crucial loss to eventual runner-up Cignal coupled with a five-set win over Chery Tiggo in the semifinals resulted in an inferior tiebreak, costing the club a trip back to the finals.
Fortunately, the Cool Smashers salvaged the bronze via a sweep of Chery Tiggo in the battle for third for their 10th straight podium finish.
“We’re still happy we got to experience competing internationally although we fell short of winning the grand slam. But then again, we still have an opportunity to aim for next year,” Creamline coach Sherwin Meneses said.
Winger Tots Carlos, who won back-to-back Most Valuable Player in the first two conferences of the season, thought that they did well this year and had achieved great success following a runner-up finish in the 2021 Open Conference — the lone tournament of the league after a one-year hiatus due to the pandemic.
“I think we did great in this conference because we still got third place. We’ve been working hard for the whole year so I think the team did okay,” she said.
Creamline is now enjoying a much-deserved break to rest, especially skipper Alyssa Valdez, who hurt her right knee in the third set of Game 2.
Valdez, who won Finals MVP in the Open Conference, has been advised by doctors after MRI tests to take weeks of rest and rehabilitation. No surgery is needed.
Meneses is now looking forward to a better Cool Smashers next season, which is tentatively scheduled to begin February 2023.
“The good thing about our team is that no one is retiring. So, we’ll have a good chance to once again aim for a grand slam,” he said.
The mentor, however, did not divulge if there would be changes in the team roster for next year.
“We can’t say yet. Let’s just wait for (the management) to decide,” Meneses said.