DEFENDING champion Creamline looks to bolster its bid for the Premier Volleyball League (PVL) Invitational Conference finals when it battles Cignal today, July 22, at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City.
The Cool Smashers take on the HD Spikers at 4 p.m. Their semifinal match will serve as the third game of the day's quadruple-header.
Creamline began its semifinal round robin campaign with a gutsy 12-25, 25-15, 23-25, 30-28, 15-7 win over F2 Logistics last Thursday.
The victory hiked the Cool Smashers record to 2-0. Creamline's other win was a carryover from the pool A elimination round game by virtue of its victory over PLDT.
For this conference, a team carries over to the semifinals its record against that other semis-bound team from their pool play action.
A win by Creamline over the third seed Cignal on Saturday will put the Rebisco-owned squad in a good position to claim a finals berth.
Creamline head coach Sherwin Meneses, however, said that the Cool Smashers still need to step up their game given that the semifinals are played every other day.
"It's difficult to prepare because there's only one day separating us from our next game. You have to rest your body before you face your opponent," said Meneses last Thursday.
"It's a battle right away. There's not much preparation. We're going to go back to the basics tomorrow and study Cignal."
Cignal, on the other hand, began its semifinal campaign with a win after taking down sister team PLDT in straight sets, 25-22, 25-15, 25-21, last Thursday.
The HD Spikers improved to 1-1. The loss come from their pool B elimination game setback against the F2 Logistics Cargo Movers.
Cignal head coach Shaq Delos Santos knows fully well who their opponents are on Saturday and the repercussions to the team if they lose.
"We're going to further elevate our game. Their team (Creamline) is really good. We're going to recover from this game [against PLDT] and we'll do a review tomorrow," said de los Santos.
"We're going to enjoy our game on Saturday. We know what we're capable of. We just need to be more consistent with our game."
