Creamline fearsome underdog

MANILA, Philippines — For the first time in a long while, the Creamline Cool Smashers, the Premier Volleyball League’s dynastic champions, will come in as the underdogs entering the All-Filipino Conference semifinals today at the PhilSports Arena.

But it will be a folly to count the seven-time league champions out.

Creamline starts its semis campaign versus Choco Mucho at 4 p.m.

Petro Gazz, Choco Mucho and Chery Tiggo wound up with identical 9-2 cards in the elims with the Angels taking the top seeding and the Flying Titans and the Crossovers the second and third, respectively.

Creamline, however, will get a fresh reprieve as all semifinalists will start from scratch in the fight for spots in the best-of-three championship round.

An interesting plot is the possibility of Creamline playing minus its top gun in Tots Carlos as the power-hitting former league MVP could skip this one to attend the Korean V-League Asian Quota combine for rookie applicants set April 29 to May 1.

Mylene Paat has confirmed she would miss Chery Tiggo’s duel at 6 p.m. with Petro Gazz while MJ Philips of the Angels, the only other applicant, was given an exception since she had played in the Korean league last year with the Gwangju Al Peppers.