Tots Carlos continues her return to form with the Creamline Cool Smashers in the 2024-25 PVL All-Filipino Conference.
Amid her recovery from a nagging knee injury, Tots Carlos has played her best game so far in the 2024-25 PVL All-Filipino Conference with the Creamline Cool Smashers.
Carlos finished with 15 points in Creamline’s thrilling five-set win against the Cignal HD Spikers over the weekend, accompanying Bernadeth Pons’ game-high 27 points and 14 excellent digs as they fended off a depleted but determined HD Spikers squad.
For Carlos, her stellar numbers also mark a significant development in her ongoing return to form for the six-month-long conference.
“Medyo nahihirapan kami [against Cignal] but kami, we’re happy, especially ‘yung mga PTs na nakapag-100 percent ako. For me, personally, ‘yun ‘yung malaking achievement [over the weekend],” she told The GAME following Creamline’s 25-19, 26-24, 23-25, 23-25, 15-9 escape over Cignal at the Philsports Arena.
“Honestly, I’m quite satisfied with how I played. I think I can do better, I can do more next time. It’s just that we’re really taking one day at a time, one game at a time. And we’re really, trying to see kung nasaan na ako ngayon.”
Load management has limited Tots Carlos in the All-Filipino Conference, but has contributed to the Cool Smashers’ pair of wins for the new year. Now that she’s made major progress, it’s now a matter of determining what procedures allowed her to perform with little to no pain over the weekend.
“I think it’s still strengthening outside of training,” the star opposite reflected. “Kasi nga ‘yun, sumasama na ako sa buong training. But also, I think I tried to take time to rest and recover, and do exercises for training and also trying to lose weight kahit papaano.”
The former UP stalwart is also grateful to her Creamline family, who allowed her to take as much time as she needed to recover from her injury. In her view, having that level of support takes away the unnecessary pressure to perform well right off the bat.
“They really gave me time to recover, and ‘yun nga malaking tulong kasi hindi ako nape-pressure, hindi ko kailangan i-push ‘yung sarili ko to the point na kailangan masaktan ulit ‘yung tuhod ko,” said Carlos, who missed the 2024 Reinforced and Invitational Conferences due to the said injury.
“So ‘yun nga, lagi naman nila tinitignan ‘yung health namin, especially ‘yan si Sir Jonathan Ng [Rebisco vice chairman and CEO] and [Creamline team manager] Sir Alan Acero, lagi nagccheck samin kung kamusta ba kami after the game.”
Up next for Tots Carlos and Creamline will be the Cherry Tiggo Crossovers on February 6, the Farm Fresh Foxies on February 11, and the PLDT High Speed Hitters on February 16. Now at the halfway point of preliminaries, Carlos assured that she will be more than ready for the Cool Smashers moving forward.
“Yeah, I think it starts with training eh. So, looking at it, I think 100 percent na ako na makalaro and maka-training,” she said.
Images courtesy of the Premier Volleyball League.