Creamline’s Tots Carlos uses finals heartbreak as motivation for breakout season

MANILA, Philippines – Ever since the start of the 2021 Premier Volleyball League (PVL) Open Conference playoffs, Creamline’s Tots Carlos has been on a personal scoring tear that has carried over to this year, and she has since not looked back.

In a two-game semifinals sweep against the Choco Mucho Flying Titans, the sophomore spiker averaged a whopping 24.5 points, and led the undefeated Cool Smashers to their sixth straight finals appearance.

Ever since the end of last conference, Carlos has not taken her mind off earning redemption since Creamline shockingly dropped its best-of-five finals series against Chery Tiggo after already being up two games to none.

“I think the experience helped, especially last tournament, where I still left some unfinished business. Coach and I really worked on it, and we learned a lot regarding our chemistry as a team,” she said.

“Of course I’m motivated because if we get this championship, this will be my first major title. I’m very excited, and super motivated because the coaches put a lot of trust in me, and you can really see that everyone is working hard.”

With opposite spiker Michele Gumabao out for the conference due to political ambitions, Carlos has grown leaps and bounds, and is now the go-to scorer for a team already featuring reliable former MVPs like Jema Galanza and Alyssa Valdez.

Apart from Chery Tiggo star Dindin Santiago-Manabat, only Carlos has had more than 20-point game this conference, and she is the only one who has done it in back-to-back games, putting her in good consideration for league MVP.

Now once again on the cusp of a title, Carlos and the rest of Creamline know they cannot take anything for granted, lest they risk a repeat of last year’s nightmare finish.

“I think our momentum is going up,” Carlos said. “Just as coach said, we must fix our basic errors because if we give up points, we lose momentum for the set, and then morale.”

“That collapse is what we’re avoiding, so we must really remember the importance of basics.” – Rappler.com