Creamline eyes AVC Cup berth, clashes with King Whale

Game Friday
(Filoil EcoOil Centre)

4 p.m. – King Whale vs Creamline

MANILA, Philippines – Creamline aims to secure the right to represent the country in the Asian Volleyball Confederation Cup while King Whale of Taipei guns for the second and last finals berth as the two face off Friday in the Premier Volleyball League Invitational at the Filoil EcoOil Centre.

The Cool Smashers, unbeaten in three semis outings, booked the first seat to the one-game finale on a silver platter after the Taiwanese club clawed back from the grave with a 23-25, 25-20, 25-23, 20-25, 15-13 win over the PLDT Power Hitters Tuesday.

A triumph against KWT in their 4 p.m. showdown would seal Creamline the honor of carrying the Philippine flag in the AVC Cup slated set late this month at the PhilSports Complex.

KWT is expected to give the reigning Open Conference champion a run for its money as it shoots for the win that would complete the cast in the finals scheduled Sunday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Although KWT prevailed over PLDT, the former is not assured of a spot in the finals just yet as it would need to win at last one of its last two games including the last versus Cignal tomorrow for it to advance to the finals.

 “Whichever team we’d be facing in the finals, we’re excited,” said Creamline coach Sherwin Meneses.

The Cool Smashers are expected to parade their power-hitting troika of Open Conference MVP Tots Carlos, skipper Alyssa Valdez and Jema Galanza while the Taiwanese should rely heavily on Beatriz Flavio de Carvalho and Chen Li Jun, who came thrugh with the biggest hits in the fifth set to seal the win.

Interesting to watch also is the titanic setter duel between Creeamline’s Jia de Guzman and KWT captain, Liao Ji-Yean.