By ADRIAN STEWART CO

The Creamline Cool Smashers bounced back in dominant fashion, sweeping the Galeries Tower Highrisers, 25-15, 26-24, 25-19, to close the PVL 2nd All-Filipino Conference preliminaries at the FilOil EcoOil Center in San Juan City on Thursday, February 20.

Negrense Bernadeth Pons made a brief appearance in the second set and finished scoreless as the defending champions finished the elimination round with a 10-1 win-loss slate.

Diana Carlos top-scored for the defending champions with 18 points.

Alyssa Valdez chipped in with 16 points on 15 attacks and a block, earning Player of the Game honors.

Except for a hard-fought second set where they had to rally back from a five-point deficit, the Cool Smashers controlled the match to wrap up the elimination round as the top-seed.

“During the second set, it just so happened that the momentum switched to our side kaya nakahabol kami,” Valdez said.

“But both teams played a good game. Credit also to them,” she added.

Roselle Baliton was the lone double-digit scorer for the Highrisers with 10 points, while Ysabel Jimenez, Jhoanna Maraguinot and France Ronquillo had six each as they dropped to 1-10.

Meanwhile, the Petro Gazz Angels cruised to a dominant 25-19, 25-14, 25-17 straight-set victory over the Nxled Chameleons for their ninth consecutive victory for a 10-1 record.

Brooke Van Sickle led the scoring charge with 17 points.

MarJana Phillips added 14 markers, while Kecelyn Galdones made an impact in her two-set appearance, scoring six points.

“The team’s strong communication has been key to our success,” Angels’ Djanel Cheng in a post-game interview.

“But we need to go back to training, study our next opponents, stay disciplined, and continue building confidence,” she added.

Lycha Ebon spearheaded Nxled’s offense with 12 points.

Chiara Permentilla added nine markers, while EJ Laure and Krich Macaslang each tallied five points.

They ended the preliminaries with a 1-10 record./ASC, WDJ