Creamline and NU coach Sherwin Meneses after a UAAP game.–MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines — Creamline coach Sherwin Meneses is thrilled to represent the country with Petro Gazz and late addition PLDT in the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Champions League on April 20 to 27 at Philsports Arena in Pasig.
Learning that the host country will now field three PVL teams, Meneses welcomed the development that will continue to improve the level of the Philippine volleyball clubs, which will compete against top Asian teams.
“It will be a huge help to Philippine volleyball because we can gain new techniques and face highly competitive teams. It’s better if the three of us compete, since we’re all representing the Philippines,” Meneses told reporters in Filipino.
READ: Creamline, Petro Gazz banner Pools A and B in AVC Champions League
Coach Sherwin Meneses reacts to Creamline’s AVC Champions League after his UAAP game with NU. @INQUIRERSports pic.twitter.com/TxGjbsTVSJ
— Lance Agcaoili (@LanceAgcaoilINQ) March 12, 2025
Creamline, the winningest PVL club with 10 titles, will face Zhetysu VC of Kazakhstan and Al Naser Club of Jordan in Pool A.
Petro Gazz, the second seed of the 2024-25 PVL All-Filipino Conference preliminaries, battles Taipower of Taipei and Hip Hing of Hong Kong in Pool B.
PLDT, the third Philippine team after the AVC awarded another slot to the host country, was drawn in Pool D with Thailand champion Nakhon Ratchasima and Queensland Pirates of Australia.
Meneses looks forward to scouting their rivals from Kazakhstan and Jordan but their main focus now is securing their imports for the campaign.
On top of Creamline’s mind is American Erica Staunton, who led the team’s historic 2024 Grand Slam in the Reinforced and Invitational Conferences.
READ: PLDT makes it 3 PH teams in AVC Women’s Champions League
“Kazakhstan is a team we already competed [in several games]. Jordan, on the other hand, is really new, even for me, but we’ll study them carefully. For now, we’re focusing on who will be Creamline’s reinforcement,” said Meneses.
Staunton played in Finland and Indonesia after her PVL stint. Creamline can tap as many as three imports.
“Number one is Erica, we’re really working on her. As for the others [we haven’t finalized it] because we’re concentrating on the PVL right now. Hopefully, we can get better reinforcements,” he added.
Creamline is set to face Chery Tiggo in a best-of-three quarterfinal series starting next week.
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The Champions League will take place two weeks after the PVL season. It may be a grueling schedule, but Meneses knows his team is ready to compete against the Asian clubs.
“Knowing Creamline, the team never really gets tired. As long as there’s competition, we’re ready. So, we don’t think about that stuff. We’ll join and give 100 percent performance,” he said.
