MANILA, Philippines – The Creamline Cool Smashers served up a Valentine’s Day nightmare to the Choco Mucho Flying Titans after a 25-18, 25-13, 25-14 demolition at the Araneta Coliseum on Tuesday, February 14.

In front of 9,575 fans, Jia de Guzman once again put up a playmaking masterclass with 25 excellent sets in just 76 attempts and helped three teammates reach 15 points apiece, namely Michele Gumabao, Ced Domingo, and Jema Galanza.

It was practically a no-contest from the second set onwards, as a Jema Galanza backrow kill hiked the lead up to 12, 19-7, before Risa Sato mercifully ended the frame with a running attack for the 25-13 finish.

Choco Mucho actually put up a better fight in the third frame, as Des Cheng sparked a 6-0 run to get within 2, 9-11.

However, that was the Flying Titans’ last gasp on offense as Creamline reminded its sister team just how far it still has to go with a 14-5 finishing kick, ending with a Domingo block on Kat Tolentino.

“Actually in the first set, we traded a lot of errors,” said Creamline head coach Sherwin Meneses in Filipino. “We had seven service errors, so that’s what we really fixed in the second and third set.”

“But in other aspects, we were able to play well, so that’s what happened to the game, it got quicker.”

Tolentino and Cheng paced the forgettable loss with 8 points apiece as Choco Mucho went down to a 1-2 record. Creamline, on the other hand, rose to 3-0 for solo first place in the early stages of its conference title defense.

The Cool Smashers will have another test of character on Saturday, February 18, 6:30 pm, as they take on the retooled F2 Cargo Movers, who are also unbeaten so far at 2-0.

The Flying Titans, meanwhile, aim to get their bearings back after a nine-day break against the Army-Black Mamba Lady Troopers on Thursday, February 23, 4 pm. – Rappler.com