MANILA, Philippines – After a dominant opening-day showing by the Philippines in the 2025 Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Women’s Champions League, Petro Gazz and Creamline failed to sustain the country’s momentum, suffering twin blowout losses at the PhilSports Arena on Monday, April 21.
Coming off a title run in the recently concluded PVL All-Filipino Conference, the Angels opened their campaign in Pool B on a disappointing note as Chinese Taipei’s Kaohsiung Taipower cruised to a 25-15, 25-16, 19-25, 25-20 four-set win.
With the victory, Taipower secured the top spot in Pool B with a 2-0 record — making the final group stage showdown between Petro Gazz and Hong Kong’s Hip Hing on Tuesday, April 22 a must-win for the Filipinas in order to advance to the quarterfinals.
“I’d say that today wasn’t our best performance, we definitely came out a little flat,” said two-time PVL MVP Brooke Van Sickle.
“But again, I’ve always preached about this, losses result in lessons learned. I feel like, in a way, that this is like an opportunity to grow from it and learn.”
“We’ll bounce back,” she added.
In her highly anticipated debut for Petro Gazz, American import Gia Day paced the team in the loss with 18 points built on 16 attacks, along with 8 excellent digs.
However, her numbers certainly weren’t enough as the Angels had no answers for Taipower outside hitter Hsu Wan-Yun, who likewise delivered 18 points off 16 attacks, together with 14 excellent digs.
The Filipino-American superstar Van Sickle — who is listed as an import in the tournament — backstopped Day with 13 points and 8 excellent digs.
Like Petro Gazz, Creamline proved no match to its opponents as Kazakhstan’s Zhetysu VC coasted to a 25-16, 25-17, 25-17 sweep in Pool A.
The outcome was the total opposite for the Cool Smashers after coming up with their own version of a sweep over Al-Naser Jordan, 29-27, 25-20, 25-19 in their opening assignment on Sunday, April 20.
With the loss, Creamline will now need Zhetysu to win over Al-Naser on Tuesday to avoid a three-way tie at 1-1 and secure the No. 2 spot in Pool A.
No player from the Cool Smashers reached double-digits in scoring as American reinforcement Erica Staunton finished with a team-best 9 points.
Staunton’s fellow Creamline imports Anastassiya Kolomoyets and Anastasiya Kudryashova added 6 and 5 points, respectively.
On the other side, Tatyana Nikitina led the charge for Zhetysu with 14 points and 9 excellent digs, while Karyna Denysova chipped in 12 points. – Rappler.com