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Creamline exorcises ‘import curse’ thanks to Erica Staunton
Cool Smashers’ six-year wait ends with a touch of gold

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IT’S been a long time coming, six years to be exact, but the PVL Reinforced Conference title drought came to an end for Creamline in a masterful 25-15, 25-23, 25-17 sweep of erstwhile unbeaten league-leader Akari.

For a team that has won it all nine times, the Cool Smashers aren’t usually associated with title droughts.

But when it comes to import-laden conferences, the pink-colored dynasty hasn’t gotten to celebrate for quite a while.

The last time Creamline ruled the Reinforced Conference was in 2018, the PVL’s sophomore season, which also happened to be the franchise’s first-ever championship.

Back then, PVL teams were still allowed to have two active foreign guest players in one conference.

The Cool Smashers had the luxury of a powerful attacking duo in Thai national team ace Kuttika Kaewpin and 6-foot-5 American spiker Laura Schaudt, the tallest import in the league’s maiden cast of reinforcements.

And for over half a decade, Kaewpin and Schaudt held the distinction of being the last imports to win Creamline a PVL title.

The golden skid finally came to a close this year with another American in Erica Staunton, the league’s youngest import at 23 years old, who had no prior overseas or pro volleyball experience to her name.

More than its weight in gold

Staunton was only 16 when the Cool Smashers won the Reinforced Conference for the first time.

Little did she know that after just rewatching clips of that 2018 title run, she’ll go on to be part of the next.

And from Staunton’s vantage point, it was the ‘team-first’ mentality through all these years that shone through for Creamline.

“I don’t think one person is the star of the show. I think everybody pulled their weight this entire conference, and I think that’s how Creamline just is as a team from what I’ve seen from their past conferences before I got here,” said Staunton.

“Overall, it was down to teamwork, trusting your teammates, and then also trusting myself because I want my teammates to be able to trust me. And I feel incredibly lucky that this was the team I started out my pro career with.”

Struggling past the struggle

One of the core holdovers from the 2018 champion team in Michele Gumabao is relieved and overjoyed to see the Cool Smashers – once doubted because of their star absentees in Alyssa Valdez, Tots Carlos, and Jema Galanza – win the Reinforced Conference again.

“Lagi talaga ‘yung Reinforced Conference, sinasabi nila du’n kami nagsa-struggle. This time around, talagang the whole team really proved na despite having the youngest import in the whole league, we’re still able to work as a team,” said Gumabao.

“Napakita talaga namin na Creamline is about teamwork talaga. Hindi ‘yung isang tao lang ‘yung gumagalaw.”

The key to it all in the face of naysayers and non-believers? Trust.

“We started this season with a loss agad-agad, but nandu’n talaga yung kapit at ‘yung tiwala. ‘Yun yung hinding-hindi talaga nawala ever since kahit nu’ng nagsa-struggle kami (sa umpisa) at kahit hindi namin mapakita yung best namin,” she said.