Creamline import Erica Staunton during a game against Checok Mucho in the PVL Reinforced Conference.–Marlo Cueto/Inquirer.net
MANILA, Philippines — Creamline import Erica Staunton enjoyed playing her first rivalry game against her sister team Choco Mucho, describing it as the “most fun volleyball atmosphere” in her career.
The American spiker put on a stellar performance in front of 9,429 enthusiastic fans at the Mall of Asia Arena as Creamline came back from 14-23 down in the third set to beat Choco Mucho 25-16, 25-19, 31-29 and enter the quarterfinals of the 2024 PVL Reinforced Conference on Saturday evening.
In his first overseas trip after studying at the University of Georgia and the most-watched volleyball game ever, Staunton kept his focus in the exciting and thrilling game environment and led the Cool Smashers with 19 points.
Read: PVL: Creamline beats Choco Mucho to move on to playoffs
Staunton on his first Creamline vs. Choco Mucho. #PVL2024 @inquirersports pic.twitter.com/oyRu8YZDvq
— Lance Agcaoil (@LanceAgcaoilINQ) August 17, 2024
“It was definitely the most fun volleyball atmosphere I’ve ever been a part of. I knew there would be a lot of fans, a lot of eyes watching. I just wanted to focus on enjoying it, because you never know if I’ll ever be able to play in a crowd like that again. So it’s just really about enjoying the moment,” said the 24-year-old spiker, who is leading Creamline in the absence of Toots Carlos, Alyssa Valdez and Gema Galanza.
Staunton took lessons from his college coach on how to overcome the pressure of being a high-profile presence in a game.
“When I was in my last year of college in Georgia, my coach said it’s for two people, not 30,000 people. You’re playing the same game whether your two best friends are watching in the gym or you’re just playing for fun. You’re playing the same game as if you were playing in front of 30,000 people. We’re playing the game we love no matter how many people are watching,” she said. “That kind of helped ease the stress a little bit and then it’s really nice to embrace the number of fans that are here who love Choco Mucho and Creamline. It’s really incredible that so many people love volleyball in the Philippines. It’s awesome.”
Staunton said he has already learned to embrace the challenging task of playing for one of the most successful PVL clubs and a fan favourite.
“Creamline plays like they want to keep it fun, they want to keep it light, and so that’s one of the reasons why so many people love Creamline, so many fans love Creamline, and why they’re so successful so I came into a program that really made sure to emphasize that they weren’t putting any extra pressure on me and just to go out there and have fun, enjoy the moment, enjoy being with my teammates, so that’s what I’ve been focused on over the last couple of months,” said the young PVL reinforcement.
READ: Creamline continues to rise as Erica Staunton finds her spot
That’s why when the Cool Smashers trailed the Flying Titans by nine points in the third quarter, Staunton knew they would find a way back with their team effort.
“I think the whole time we believed that we could come back, no matter how big the gap was. We believed in each other and in our team that if we kept our heads up and just kept working point by point, I think we knew we would come out of it,” he said. “I think we knew that energy and momentum would be a big part of that comeback. We made sure we kept that and worked towards that, so that was probably the biggest thing, playing together and playing point by point.”
Tied with Cherry Tiggo and PLDT at a 5-2 record, Creamline completed its second round against winless ZUS Coffee on Thursday at the FilOil EcoOil Center in San Juan City, hoping to improve its seeding ahead of the knockout quarterfinals.
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