King Whale makes Creamline pay, seizes last finals berth

Game Saturday

(Filoil EcoOil Centre)
4 p.m. – KWT vs Cignal

MANILA, Philippines – King Whale of Taipei took advantage of Creamline’s decision to experiment and go deep into their roster and eked out a 25-15, 17-25, 25-22, 24-26, 15-5 victory Friday to claim the last spot to the finals in the Premier Volleyball League Invitational at the Filoil EcoOil Centre.

Power-spiking Brazilian Beatriz Flavio de Carvalho unleashed a match-high 24-point effort she laced with 19 spikes and two blocks while Chen Li-Jun quietly but effective fired her way to 17 hits including 16 on kills as the Taiwanese Club sealed their third straight win.

It also catapulted KWT straight to the one-game finale versus the reigning Open Conference champion Saturday at the Mall of Arena.

“If we do our best against Creamline, we’ll win. That’s why we did our best,” said Chen through an interpreter.

PLDT, which was hoping KWT loses its last two games to advance to the finals, will battle sister team Cignal for third that same day.

KWT is expected to rest their players and go deep into its bench as it tackles Cignal in a non-bearing duel today in San Juan.

The result also earned the Cool Smashers the right to represent the country in the Asian Volleyball Confederation Cup that the country will host late this month at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig.

With the exception of starter Jema Galanza, who was rested, Creamline, which was already assured of a finals berth, used all 14 of their players in uniform with leading MVP candidate Tots Carlos leading the squad with 15 points.

But despite it, the Cool Smashers went for a victory but it only sent it as far as the fifth and deciding set where the Taiwanese belles were just too dominant and determined to snatch the win.

They did.

There were some anxious moments late in the third set when Creamline captain Alyssa Valdez landed awkwardly and hurt her left ankle.

She was quickly rushed to the locker room where the tweaked ankle was checked and came out fine. 
While she went back to the court, Creamline coach Sherwin Meneses opted not to send her back anymore for precautions.