Jaja, Jema power Creamline past Farm Fresh

Jaja Santiago-Minowa continues to play a central role forCreamline. —PVL IMAGES

Jaja Santiago-Minowa joined hands with Jema Galanza as Creamline dominated the fifth set and survived Farm Fresh, 25-18, 24-26, 25-22, 23-25, 15-4, to inch closer to the PVL Invitational final on Thursday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Santiago-Minowa, who nailed all three of her blocks in the decider to finish with 17 points, praised Farm Fresh’s reigning season MVP Trisha Tubu in their first-ever duel.

“I’m actually very honored to play against Tubu,” Santiago-Minowa said in Filipino after the prolific Foxy finished with 19 points. “She’s an impressive player. The way she jumps and attacks, when the ball goes up, she can really put it away. We just have to keep studying her while we’re playing against her.”

The 6-foot-5 middle blocker also credited teammate Galanza, who nailed two timely blocks on Tubu that led to a 10-1 breakaway by the Cool Smashers in the decider.

“I’m also very grateful to Jema because we communicated well on our blocking toward the end. Her execution against Tubu was really good,” Santiago-Minowa said as Galanza dazzled with 26 points off 22 kills, two blocks and a pair of aces on top of 18 excellent receptions and 11 digs.

Creamline remained unbeaten in three games, and a win over Est Cola of Thailand on Friday at 6:30 p.m. would give the Cool Smashers an automatic title game slot.

Tubu highlighted her performance with four blocks, and said that she was honored to go head-to-head against Santiago-Minowa before the Filipino-born Japanese citizen flies to the United States for a groundbreaking stint in League One Volleyball.

“Having the opportunity to play against [Santiago-Minowa] is really big for me,” Tubu said in Filipino. “I even said earlier that my goal was not to get blocked by [her]—and then she blocked me.”

“But it was a great experience because it really makes you think about how you’re going to handle every ball that comes your way without letting her get a hand on it.”

Despite the loss, Tubu picked up a lot of lessons playing against the celebrated Santiago-Minowa.

“Since she came from international teams, you can really see the level of her game, especially in crucial moments,” Tubu said in admiration of Santiago-Minowa. “She stays very focused and knows exactly how she wants to attack the ball.”

“She’s also very flexible. There was even a time when she opened up and played another position,” the former Adamson ace said. “That’s something I really admire about her. She’s so versatile and can do a lot of things on the court.”

Tots Carlos and captain Alyssa Valdez had 12 points each for Creamline, while Kyle Negrito had 22 excellent sets on top of eight points.

Farm Fresh dropped back-to-back games for a 1-2 record, facing PLDT on Friday at 1:30 p.m.

Ces Molina’s 27-point explosion and 17-dig game went for naught. Royse Tubino also had 19 points.