MANILA, Philippines \u2014 Creamline\u2019s long reign could be likened to ancient dynasties that have stood the test of time.<\/p>\n
And the mighty Cool Smashers have no plans of relinquishing it a nytime soon.<\/p>\n
On the cusp of another glorious ending, the proud franchise tries to wield the scepter of Premier Volleyball League power for another conference by finishing off a title -starved Choco Mucho today at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.<\/p>\n
The seven-time league champions survived a potential Game 1 collapse by hanging tough and sniped a 24-26, 25-20, 25-21, 25-16 victory from their younger sib lings for a 1-0 lead in their short but sweet title series.<\/p>\n
If they end up victorious in Game 2 set at 6 p.m. before an expected mammoth crowd, the Cool Smashers will collect championship trophy No. 8 and the tag as the best dynasty Philippine volleyball has ever seen.<\/p>\n
But the path to success was not without perdition as Creamline had to overcome inner struggles and the meteoric rise of other teams like the Sisi Rondina-powered Flying Titans.<\/p>\n
Jema Galanza, a popular figure and one of Creamline\u2019s most lethal weapons, vowed to persevere.<\/p>\n
\u201cHindi ito \u2018yung Creamline na kilala niyo,\u201d said Galanza, whose star shone brightest after uncorking 20 points in the opener. \u201c<\/p>\n
Choco Mucho, for its part, would need to forget about its harrowing Game 1 experience and focus solely on forcing a decider, on Tuesday at the same venue.<\/p>\n
Ganun talaga, hindi naman kami perfect at tumataas din level ng competition, gumagaling players at teams.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAng hirap maging consistent, ang hirap maging champion every conference. Pero makikita mo sa bawat isa sa amin na gusto namin makuha ito,\u201d said Galanza.<\/p>\n
Choco Mucho, for its part, would need to forget about its harrowing Game 1 experience and focus solely on forcing a decider, on Tuesday at the same venue.<\/p>\n
MANILA, Philippines \u2014 In front of 20,955 witnesses, the Bulldogs got on the loose and went for the double ambush on the Tigers\u2019 lair \u2013 with little to no resistance \u2013 to draw first blood in their virtual tag team duel for the UAAP volleyball supremacy.<\/p>\n
The National U spikers mauled Santo Tomas squads with sweeping victories for 1-0 leads in the rare UAAP Season 86 men\u2019s and women\u2019s volleyball finals featuring the same casts yesterday at the jampacked Smart-Araneta Coliseum.<\/p>\n
The Bulldogs feasted on the Golden Spikers with a 25-17, 26-24, 25-19 win in their finale rematch while the Lady Bulldogs pounced on the crippled Golden Tigresses, who took the toll of Angge Poyos\u2019 ankle injury in the second set, for a 25-23, 25-20, 25-20 runaway triumph in the best-of-three showdowns.<\/p>\n
Another win in Game 2 on Wednesday would complete their respective championship dreams \u2013 a four-peat for the Bulldogs and a redemption for the Lady Bulldogs eyeing their second title in the last three seasons.<\/p>\n
Alyssa Solomon finally rediscovered her fiery form in the big stage with 17 points on 14 hits and three blocks while former MVP Bella Belen, who\u2019s also this year\u2019s top candidate, fired all of her 13 points on attacks.<\/p>\n
Vange Alinsug and Sheena Toring contributed 12 and 10 points, respectively, for the NU crew, which banked on experience in their third straight finals appearance compared to the young Santo Tomas unit in its first finale stint in five years.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2019Yun ang naging pep \/talk namin sa dugout. Hindi na iba sa kanila \u2018yung umabot dito sa finals. They know how it feels. Alam nila kung anong kailangan gawin,\u201d said coach Norman Miguel.<\/p>\n
True to form, NU sprinted to a 6-0 start to set the tempo and shake Santo Tomas off from its all-time high confidence after dethroning La Salle in the semis.<\/p>\n
And without their top hitter Poyos (7), who tweaked her right ankle after accidentally stepping on teammate Mary Banagua\u2019s foot in the second set, the Golden Tigresses were never the same even with the steady numbers of Jonna Perdido (17) and Regina Jurado (10).<\/p>\n
It was the same story for the Bulldogs, who shackled reigning MVP Joshua Yba\u00f1es and ace spiker Gboy de Vega behind the troika of Buds Buddin (16), Nico Almendras (16) and Leo Aringo (15).<\/p>\n
MANILA, Philippines \u2014 Fil-Am sensation Victoria Bossong showed promise as she ruled the event she was expected to dominate \u2013 the women\u2019s 800 meters \u2013 yesterday in the ICTSI Philippine Athletics Championships at the PhilSports oval.<\/p>\n
The 21-year-old Harvard standout clocked two minutes and 9.56 seconds in besting the local challengers, national team mainstay Bernalyn Bejoy, who had 2:12.48, and Far Eastern University\u2019s Susan Ramadan, who checked in at 2:17.88.<\/p>\n
It was faster than the time she registered in the morning heats \u2013 2:12.7 \u2013 but it was way slower from her personal best of 2:00.92 she registered in last March\u2019s US NCAA Division I race, which barely grazed the Paris Olympic standard of 1:59.30.<\/p>\n
It was still enough though to remind everyone that she\u2019s for real.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, it\u2019s still in the process but I\u2019m excited to compete for the Philippines, still excited for the future,\u201d said Bossong, whose mother is Puerto Galera native Annie Yaco Atienza, when asked if she already got her Philippine passport.<\/p>\n
After the race, Bossong proceeded to the airport and flew back home to Maine on an evening flight to prepare for the NCAA Regionals in a week and the finals a week or two later.<\/p>\n
National team mainstay Hussein Lora\u00f1a, fresh from his feat in a Hong Kong tilt just more than a week before, continued to show promise as he ruled the men\u2019s 800m in 1:51.32.<\/p>\n
David Paul Matibag of Mandaluyong and Oyamkeri Espinosa of University of Santo Tomas timed in 1:52.34 and 1:52.63 to settle for the silver and bronze, respectively.<\/p>\n
MANILA, Philippines \u2014 Eighth seed Terrafirma went into the David-versus-Goliath showdown with No. 1 San Miguel Beer believing it could defy the odds.<\/p>\n
Fully embracing that faith, the Dyip took down the mighty Beermen, 106-95, to drag the stunned holders to a sudden death for a seat to the PBA Philippine Cup semifinals yesterday at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.<\/p>\n
Juami Tiongson (29 points), Stephen Holt (25 markers, eight rebounds, four assists, two steals), Isaac Go (career-high 22 spiked by six triples) and Javi Gomez de Lia\u00f1o (15-10-8) played the game of their lives as Terrafirma made the most of a rare playoffs appearance and ambushed their mighty foes.<\/p>\n
\u201cGreat effort from everyone \u2013 from the coaches, to the players, the bench, the ball boys to the bosses all-around. We really wanted to win this game,\u201d said Go, who bettered his old high of 21 while taking primary defensive duties against SMB behemoth June Mar Fajardo.<\/p>\n
Later, No. 2 Barangay Ginebra finished off eighth-seed Magnolia, 99-77, to clinch a semifinal berth.<\/p>\n
Ginebra moved on to the best-of-seven semis versus either Meralco or NLEX. The Bolts lead the Road Warriors in their race-to-two series.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MANILA, Philippines \u2014 Creamline\u2019s long reign could be likened to ancient dynasties that have stood the test of time. And the mighty Cool Smashers have no plans of relinquishing it a nytime soon. On the cusp of another glorious ending, the proud franchise tries to wield the scepter of Premier Volleyball League power for another […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[1202],"class_list":["post-2575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-Sports","tag-PBA"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/asianews.ph\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/asianews.ph\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/asianews.ph\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asianews.ph\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asianews.ph\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/asianews.ph\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2575\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/asianews.ph\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asianews.ph\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asianews.ph\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}