Creamline’s been in this position before. Will the import-laden curse strike the eight-time champs again?

PHOTO: SHERWIN VARDELEON

IMPORT-laden competitions hasn’t been Creamline’s strong suit, at least in the last two editions of the PVL Reinforced Conference in 2019 and 2022.

And even before the eight-time league champions took the court for the first Reinforced Conference in two years, the Cool Smashers knew they’d have to dig even deeper in the absence of its the trio in captain Alyssa Valdez, Jema Galanza and Tots Carlos.

Galanza, just like the rest of her 13 co-PVL stars bound for Alas Pilipinas duties, won’t be able to see action in the league until Aug. 11 once their national team duties end.

While Carlos’ apparent knee injury after Game 2 of last conference’s championship series kept her sidelined, Valdez was mum on the reason behind her opening-day absence.

Exquisite squad depth might have been Creamline’s bread and butter through the years en route to becoming the PVL’s winningest team, but it didn’t quite cut it in the face of a redemption-seeking PLDT side after three straight top five finishes.

With the uncertainty of their squad makeup moving forward, is the rare opening-day loss a sign of things to come or just an early hiccup before Creamline goes full steam as it has done time and time again?

PHOTO BY: SHERWIN VARDELEON

Bad omen for Creamline?

Out of the four editions of the import-laden conference, Creamline only managed to win one back in 2018 — the club’s very first PVL title.

Come the next two Reinforced Conferences, it was Petro Gazz that ruled on both occasions and relegated Creamline to a rare bridesmaid finish in 2019 and an even rarer bronze medal in 2022.

Not only was 2019 the first time Creamline lost a PVL Finals series since its inaugural championship run a year prior, but it was also in the Reinforced Conference that year in which they last lost on opening day.

The Cool Smashers suffered an uncharacteristic straight-sets loss to the Angels but managed to win all nine of their succeeding preliminary-round matches since.

And come the finals, they blew a 1-0 series lead to a determined Petro Gazz side that secured what would then be their first PVL title in franchise history.

Gold standard still within reach

Since the 2019 Reinforced Conference, Creamline has won six of the last nine PVL championships — cementing their dynastic stature in Philippine volleyball.

But for their newest import in American spiker Erica Staunton, whose first taste of Creamline’s brand of volleyball ended in defeat after her 20-piece debut outing, there’s still a gold standard yet to be reached by the Cool Smashers that would require some fine-tuning and cleaning up the rest of the way.

“There are things that we can work on, things that we can clean up, some things that maybe weren’t up to our standard, but I think that they’re all things that we can take care of in training and be better for the next game,” the 23-year-old American ace said.

“I should be taking some smarter shots, maybe not try to swing so hard. They had some really good check balls off of me that allowed their defense to pick up off of them. By the next game, I have a better feel of what I need to do for sure.

“Unfortunately, we came up short for them tonight but we plan on turning that around for the rest of the conference.”