MANILA, Philippines – The Pocari Sweat Lady Warriors recovered from a very slow start to shackle Alyssa Valdez and the Creamline Cool Smashers in four sets in their crucial showdown in the 2017 Premier Volleyball League (PVL) Reinforced Conference Thursday at the FilOil Flying V Centre.

After a poor performance in the opening set that saw them score only 15 points, the Lady Warriors imposed their will the rest of the way en route to a 15-25, 25-18, 26-24, 25-19 victory.

It was their third straight win in the tournament, giving them a 3-2 win-loss record heading into the second round. Pocari Sweat, the last winner of the Reinforced Conference in the Shakey's V-League, appeared to have gotten into a good rhythm since opening their campaign with back-to-back losses.

"Big boost ito sa morale namin as a team, kasi coming from two defeats sa start ng tournament, ang ganda ng bawi namin – tatlong sunod," said Pocari coach Rommel Abella. "Ngayon pa lang namin nakikita na nabubuo ang team namin."

[This is a big boost to our morale, because we had a good response to our two-game losing streak. Now, we're seeing how we can work as a team.]

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The Lady Warriors had no answer for Alysa Valdez in the opening frame, as the former Ateneo de Manila University superstar smashed her way through the Pocari blockers. With Ivy Remulla, Ceska Racraquin, and Pau Soriano also getting into the scoring act, Creamline proved to be tough to stop.

Pocari bounced back immediately, however, opening up the second frame with a 5-1 advantage and repulsing Creamline's repeated attempts at a comeback.

"Sabi ko lang sa kanila, let's play our own pace," Abella said of his advice to the team after their first set loss. "Kasi nagdi-dictate ng pace ang Creamline, and hindi kami sanay sa ganoong pace. Sabi ko, let's play our own pace, kung saan tayo comfortable, doon tayo maglaro."

"At least medyo nakinig, and nakabawi kami ng second set," he added.

[I told them to play our own pace. Creamline was dictating the pace, and we're not used to that. So I told them, let's play our own pace, where we're comfortable. They listened and we were able to recover in the second set.]

With Jessey de Leon coming off the bench to give the Lady Warriors a huge boost, Pocari overhauled a slim deficit to surge to a 17-14 lead in the third set. They reached set point, 24-22, off a mishit by Creamline's (C4), but a service error by De Leon and an attack error by Kasilag allowed the Cool Smashers to force an extension.

Kasilag quickly made up for her error, however, as she connected on two consecutive crosscourt kills that gave the Lady Warriors a 2-1 lead in the match.

By the fourth set, the Lady Warriors were clearly in control, and no Creamline player outside of Valdez was able to penetrate the Pocari defense.

Kasilag led Pocari with 14 points, while Kai Nepomuceno added 12, and Myla Pablo scored 10. De Leon had eight points off the bench, while Jeanette Panaga scored six of her nine points off kill blocks. Pocari, as a team, had 10 blocks against only four for Creamline.

Creamline dropped its second straight match for a 1-3 win-loss record.

Valdez again carried the fight for the Cool Smashers, scoring 25 points on 20 attacks and five service aces. Coleen Bravo and Pau Soriano each added 11 points, but Creamline also committed 35 unforced errors to gift Pocari with too many free points.

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