She was key in completing the 11-0 sweep.
Their four-set rout of the Galeries Tower Highrisers on Tuesday wasn’t the cleanest of victories for the Creamline Cool Smashers.
But despite dropping the opening set to the lowly Galeries, the defending champions got the job done and are now headed to the semifinals of the PVL Second All-Filipino Conference still undefeated.
One big positive from their win over the Highrisers was the solid performance of Lorie Bernardo, who has played limited minutes for the Cool Smashers this conference.
But with subpar performances from Creamline's usual suspects during the first set, Bernardo was fielded in the second and third sets and contributed seven points in the victory.
Bernardo made sure to make the most out of the rare opportunity given to her. After all, who knows? Coach Sherwin Meneses might call her number again in the semifinals.
“Binigyan ako ng coaches and ng ates ko ng tiwala sa loob ng court. Gusto ko lang din i-apply lahat ng tine-training namin sa game,” Bernardo said during the postgame press conference.
The 23-year-old middle blocker from the UP Fighting Maroons has provided a spark off the bench whenever she’s fielded in.
As the team prepares for its upcoming semifinals bout against the dangerous Chery Tiggo Crossovers, Bernardo put emphasis again on their training sessions.
“Mag-focus lang kami sa training and makinig lang kami sa ipapagawa ng mga coaches (para manalo),” said Bernardo. “Magtatrabaho pa kami nang mas mabuti.”
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Game 1 of the best-of-three semifinals series between Creamline and Chery Tiggo is set this Thursday at the PhilSports Arena.
Catch it live at 4 p.m. on One Sports, One Sports+, and the Pilipinas Live app.
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