The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
By Robert Andaya
I think it is not about how you started, but it is how you finish. I think, we finished very strong. I think we learned a lot from that first loss.”
With these words, American volleyball star Erica Staunton summed up Creamline’s Cool Smashers’ successful title campaign in the 2024 PVL Reinforced Conference at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.
Led by Staunton’s 13 points, Creamline posted a convincing 25-15, 25-23, 25-17 win over top favorite Akari Chargers in the gold medal match.
It was a record-extending ninth championship for the Cool Smashers — but their first since in 2018 with Thai Kuttika Kaewpin and American Laura Schaudt as their imports.
The Reinforced Conference title had eluded the Cool Smashers for the past two editions, as they settled for the bronze medal in 2022 and silver medal in 2019.
Now they’re back on top.
“Overall, it’s about teamwork, trusting your teammates, and also trusting myself because I want my teammates to be able to trust me. I really think everybody pulled their weight this entire conference, and that’s how Creamline just is as a team from what I’ve seen in their past conferences before I got here,” said Staunton, at 23 years old the youngest import in the 12-team field.
“I couldn’t have done it without my amazing teammates. So I feel incredibly lucky that this was the team that I have started my pro career with. I feel very blessed. I feel very lucky that I was brought to a team like Creamline. This experience has been unbelievable,”added. Staunton.
The hard-hitting outside spiker from University of Georgia, who is headed to Finland for the European league for the next couple of months, played a pivotal role in ending Creamline’s six-year title drought in the import-laden conference.
Sharing the limelight with Staunton is Bernadeth Pons , who bagged the conference and Finals MVP awards.
Pons was able to filled the gap by producing solid all-around numbers in the preliminaries all the way to the semifinal despite the absence of Jema Galanza, who missed action due to her commitments to Alas Pilipinas.
Also missing were Alyssa Valdez and Tots Carlos.
Creamline coach Sherwin Meneses was visibly happy and satisfied with the results of their performance.
“Every championship is special,” Meneses said. “But this one stands out because we were missing a lot of key players. Despite that, our team worked incredibly hard and still managed to secure the title.”