Pons Returns to Creamline Duties as Cool Smashers Defeat Galeries Tower
Key Takeaways
- •Bernadeth Pons rejoined Creamline after finishing her duties with the national beach volleyball team, seeing action in her first match in roughly six months.
- •Creamline beat Galeries Tower in four sets, 27-29, 25-18, 25-19, 25-18, in an All-Filipino Conference Siklab Series elimination-round game at the Filoil Centre.
- •Pons, a former league MVP, tallied eight points in just over two sets on the floor and vowed to improve as the tournament progresses.
- •The 11-time champion is trying to reclaim its top standing after a fourth-place finish in the recent Invitational, its second-worst result following a sixth-place finish in last year's Reinforced Conference.
- •Tots Carlos said having the full roster back is significant, giving the team no reason not to perform and inspiring a bounce back from its poor exit last conference.
The Creamline Cool Smashers no longer look like a team missing a piece. Bernadeth Pons is back from her national beach volleyball team duties, and a renewed sense of completeness runs through the 11-time league champion.
That was evident in Creamline’s 27-29, 25-18, 25-19, 25-18 victory over Galeries Tower in their Premier Volleyball League (PVL) All-Filipino Conference Siklab Series elimination round duel at the Filoil Centre last Saturday — the former league MVP’s first match in around half a year. The All-Filipino Conference, the PVL’s all-local lineup format in the country’s professional volleyball league, places a premium on exactly the kind of depth Pons’s return restores.
“It’s good to be back,” said a relieved Pons, who showed a little rust but still managed to contribute eight points in just over two sets on the floor. She nevertheless vowed to be better as the tournament progresses.
Whether at full strength or not, Pons is considered vital to the proud franchise’s bid to reclaim its old place at the pedestal after stumbling to a disappointing fourth-place finish in the Invitational more than a month ago — its second-worst result after winding up sixth in last year’s Reinforced Conference.
For her teammate Tots Carlos, having the full roster back changes everything.
“Malaking bagay kumpleto kami,” Carlos said, which translates to “It’s a big thing that we’re complete.” “Wala kami reason para hindi mag-perform at inspired kami makabawi dahil hindi maganda exit namin last conference” — “We have no reason not to perform, and we’re inspired to bounce back because our exit last conference wasn’t good.”
As the elimination round moves forward, the storyline to follow is whether Pons can shed the rust in time to anchor the 11-time champion’s bid to reassert itself — with a complete roster that, in Carlos’s words, now has no reason not to perform.
— Joey Villar, BusinessWorld Online
