Petro Gazz nears PVL title as it outlasts Creamline in five sets

April 10 ------ PETRO Gazz stood undeterred by a late Creamline comeback to take Game One of the 2024-25 PVL All-Filipino Conference finals, 25-17, 25-20, 18-25, 20-25, 15-10 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. In their first PVL Finals game in 709 days, the No. 2 seed showed no signs of rust under the bright lights of championship volleyball and now has a hand on the All-Filipino trophy that has eluded them for the last seven years. 

The Angels have now won a finals opener for the third straight time after previously doing so in the 2022 Reinforced Conference which it won over Cignal in two games and in the 2023 1st All-Filipino Conference before getting reverse-swept by Creamline in three games. Petro Gazz’ early two set lead was erased through multiple Creamline scoring runs in Sets 3 and 4, capped by a 9-3 set-clinching run in the fourth frame to force the tiebreak. 

From there, the Angels led by as much as six in the fifth set and never looked back. For the second time this conference, Creamline falls short against Petro Gazz. And for only the second time in franchise history, Creamline falls short in Game 1 of a best-of-three series after winning eight of their last nine. Now one up on the perennial titlists, Petro Gazz looks to rewrite history and close out the series for its third PVL championship come Game 2 on Thursday, still at the Big Dome. 

Should they do so in two days’ time, the Angels won’t just halt Creamline’s five-peat bid. They will also become the first local team other than the Cool Smashers to win a PVL title in four years and the first new team altogether since the 2023 Invitationals when Japanese guest team Kurashiki Ablaze nipped Creamline in the knockout title game. 

Source: spin.ph