Alyssa Valdez and the Creamline Cool Smashers are taking in all the lessons they could get from their first loss in the 2024-25 PVL All-Filipino Conference.
It comes as no surprise that the Creamline Cool Smashers bounced back in a big way in their final match of the 2024-25 PVL All-Filipino Conference preliminaries.
Coming off their first loss in the conference, the Cool Smashers fired past the Galeries Tower Highrisers in straight sets, 25-15, 26-24, 25-19, at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig on Thursday, February 20.
Alyssa Valdez was at the focal point of the bounce-back win, putting up 16 points on 15 attacks and one block to go along with seven excellent digs and seven excellent receptions, giving Creamline the no.1 seed heading into the qualifying round.
For Valdez, the five-set defeat to the PLDT High Speed Hitters served as a timely wake-up call for the defending champs.
The match saw the Cool Smashers’ 19-game win streak dating back to the 2024 Reinforced Conference come to an end.
“Honestly, I think we’ve been through different losses din naman throughout conferences, but that was actually something na masasabi namin na at the end of the day, wake-up call talaga,” Valdez said during the post-game press conference.
“We were humbled by that loss so work harder the next day and make sure na gagawin namin ‘yung trabaho namin and roles namin. So, even with that loss, we would say we have so many things to improve on pa as a team, so it was a good loss for us,” she added.
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Despite their first defeat, Creamline remains the favorite to win the PVL All-Filipino crown.
But taking their learnings from the PLDT match, Valdez knows that the Cool Smashers still have a lot to work to do on their road to perfection.
“We’ll take it one game at a time but definitely, one of the skills na na-improve ng lahat would be the system and blocking, so I guess we’re going to work on our counter attacks pa rin, and basics, disiplina,” the three-time PVL MVP explained.
“Basics, [kumbaga] pag free ball, mga mahihinang bola, at the end of the day, kailangan ma-perfect. ‘Yun ‘yung mga minor details but will help us in the end of the day and ‘yun ‘yung mag-matter pag dikitan,” she added.
As the first seed, the grand slam champs will await their opponent in the qualifying round which could either be the Nxled Chameleons or Capital1 Solar Spikers.