MANILA (UPDATED) – The Creamline Cool Smashers moved closer to defending their title as they secured the first spot in the Finals of the 2023 PVL Invitational Conference Tuesday.

Despite being challenged, Creamline still swept Vietnam’s Kinh Bac-Bac Ninh, 25-23, 25-23, 25-17, at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City to remain unbeaten in seven outings.

The Cool Smashers are now holding a perfect 4-0 slate in the round-robin semifinals while the guest team from Vietnam has remained winless in three games.

The MVP trio of Creamline once again produced solid numbers with Tots Carlos leading them with 16 points followed by Alyssa Valdez’s 11 points. Jema Galanza added 10 of her own.

Setter Jia de Guzman earned the player of the game honors this time, dishing out 17 excellent sets in the three-set game.

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“Thankful kami sa mga players kasi siyempre, nagre-respond sa mga sinasabi namin tsaka sa mga pinapagawa namin. Kaya siguro nasa finals kami ulit. Siyempre lahat ng teams gusto mag-champion, so hindi pa tapos yung goal namin. Ilan na lang,” head coach Sherwin Meneses said.

It was a tight battle between the two teams until midway through the third frame with the Cool Smashers holding a slim 16-15 lead after a topspin hit by Michele Gumabao.

But the Creamline quickly collected three straight points after the second technical timeout with Carlos capping the mini run with a block points, 19-15.

The defending champions, then, dropped a fiery 5-0 closeout as Valdez and Ced Domingo, giving the final touches of the match, 25-17.

The Vietnamese team leaned on Nguyen Huong, who had game-high 19 points, all on attacks, while Le Xuan tallied 10.

Meanwhile, Kinh Bac’s team captain Ngueyn Oanh was stretchered out of the court after a bad fall at the start of the third frame. She never came back from thereon, finishing the match with eight points.

This will be the second straight conference that the Cool Smashers are headed to the championship game of the PVL.

They still have one more game in the semis, facing another guest team Kurashiki Ablaze from Japan.