THE Premier Volleyball League(PVL) is in full swing with its All Filipino Conference featuring 12 teams led by defending champions Creamline.

And a quick look at the standings as of today will show Creamline at 4th overall with a 2-0 win-loss record behind Choco Mucho, 3-0, Petro Gazz, 2-1, and Cignal with a similar 2-0 slate.

At 5th is Chery Tiggo, 2-1, followed by PLDT, also 2-1, and Farm Fresh, together with Akari and Akari with the same 1-2 records.

Of course, one has to look at the opponents of each team to have a better understanding of its performance, Choco Mucho is the most impressive having beaten already seeded teans Petro Gazz and Chery Tiggo plus relative lightweight NxLed.

I watched the Choco Mucho -Petro Gazz game and it could have gone either way, I just noticed Deanna Wong was not getting the usual playing time though Mars Alba was doing well in the same position.

On the other side, one of my favorite setters Djanelle Cheng was also in the same boat as Ivy Perez was doing well on her own, too bad she suffered a bad fall.

Number 2 team Petro Gazz, also the PNVF Invitational champion has scored wins over PLDT and newcomer Strong Group, to go with that loss to Choco Mucho.

Cignal at 2-0 easily beat Galleries but had a harder time against the reinforced Akari team, so again, too early to say anything definite, then comes Creamline with that impressive win against Akari and the expected victory over Farm Fresh.

The under-achieving Chery Tiggo , based from its last year’s performance, had easy games for its first matches, Strong Group and Capital1, but was crushed by Choco Mucho in 4 sets.Chery Tiggo has to work on its defense, that is my take on them.

Same thing with PLDT whose two wins came at the expense of Galleries and NxLed but they faltered against Petro Gazz.

Farm Fresh at 1-1 won over Galleries but was smothered by Creamline though to its credit, Farm Fresh took one set in that game.

Not too early though for me to say that Creamline will be in the finals, am not sure against which team, but I agree with my friend Rhea Navarro that the Cool Smashers will not be the overwhelming favorites come the finals.

Reason? We all know the veteran teams have all become stronger with their front office recruitment moves, any team among the top can beat anyone on a good night.

Despite this, Creamline will continue their winning ways and I will tell you why.

First of all, they have the right players and a deep bench that you can have two starting squads, a good system that has been embraced by the players, and a good team chemistry among the players and the coach believes in itself.

But then it does not stop there, I asked head coach Sherwin Meneses why his team keeps on winning, first answer was because they have veterans, I told him the same with the other teams.

Pressed on, he admitted the team may have the edge in mental toughness, I think “may” should be removed, Creamline is tops for me in this department.

I have been doing teambuilding for a long time and I always tell participants in sessions that when working as a team, the primary need is to believe in themselves and in their team mates, having the same vision, and moving as one.

Creamline for me epitomizes this, they believe they can beat any team and they will, you can take a set , even bring them to a 5th set, but in the end, they will take the game.

Watch them play when the pressure is on, they are at their best in these situations, closing out a game is where they thrive.

The team can adjust to any situation ,if they lose a set that might be more due to their own mistakes, watch them adjust in the next set, all of the above talks of mental toughness.

Does it mean they are unbeatable?

Nope, it simply means to beat them, the opponents have bring their A- game every set but if Creamline brings its own A- game in turn, I will always bet on them.

My thanks to Rhea and PVL Commissiorer Sherwin Malonso who hosted a nice lunch at Italianni’s in Estancia yesterday.

With us were colleague Ignacio Dee and former PATAFA Sec-Gen Edward Kho, a UP student doing his thesis focused on the fans of women’s volleyball.

Very interesting exchange of ideas, the evolution if the PVL to what it is now, the different characters in the league, who and where did PVL fans come from, even men’s volleyball, and what have you, but we all agreed, women’s volleyball fans are personality-based fans, and not really the serious sport-based fans.

They are more concerned with the personal lives of the players and are very subjective, very much involved with the personal lives of their idols.

If you do not believe me, join a chat group of volleyball fans and see the exchange, heated a lot of times between opposing fans, but do not dare post something controversial that might be detrimental to your health afterwards when irate fans comment on your post.

But whoever and whatever they are, the fans will always the lifeblood of any sport, and the PVL knows this.

LOOSE CHANGE: Happy birthday to People’s Tonight sportswriter Robert Andaya, who turned another year older on March 8.

Also celebrating on the same day (March 8) is Apollo Nathaniel, the three-year-old apo of People’s Tonight Sports Editor Ed Andaya.

For comments and suggestions, email to [email protected]