Get to know the two new reinforcements joining Creamline for the upcoming AVC Champions League.
The Creamline Cool Smashers will have a full trio of reinforcements for the 2025 AVC Champions League starting this April 20.
Along with fan-favorite Erica Staunton, Creamline will be fielding middle blocker Anastassiya Kolomoyets from Kazakhstan, and Russian outside hitter Anastasiya Kudryashova as they prepare to go up against some of Asia’s top club teams in the one-week meet.
The six-foot Kolomoyets bolsters a middle blocking rotation that includes veteran Pangs Panaga, and newly-minted PVL All-Filipino Conference Best Middle Blocker Bea De Leon.
Similarly, six-foot-four Kudryashova joins a deep outside hitter pool bannered by former Most Valuable Players in captain Alyssa Valdez, Jema Galanza, and the beach-volleyball bound Bernadeth Pons.
Both reinforcements arrived in the country last Sunday, according to head coach Sherwin Meneses, and have since begun their training ahead of the regional meet.
International experience
In signing these two imports, the PVL’s winningest club gets added championship experience for the one-week tournament.
The 34-year-old Kolomoyets was part of VC Kuanysh’s title-winning core in the 2022 edition of the Champions League — then known as the AVC Women’s Club Volleyball Championship — that netted them a ticket to the 2022 FIVB Women’s Club World Championship.
The six-foot middle blocker is just as accomplished in domestic tournaments, ruling the Kazakhstan League twice with Kuanysh, and the Kazakhstan Cup with Altay VC. Behind these three titles are also consistent podium finishes within these leagues, including a recent silver medal finish in the Kazakhstan Super Cup.
Kolomoyets was also a mainstay of the Kazakhstan national team, being part of their Asian Games campaign in 2014, along with their appearance in the 2022 FIVB Women’s World Championship.
Six-foot-four Kudryashova is expected to bring her NCAA Division 1 pedigree to Creamline, having spent time with the Rutgers University Scarlet Knights and the Penn State University Nittany Lions between 2018 to 2023.
The Russian hitter is also a one-time Kazakhstan Super Cup champion with Almaty VC, which was followed by a silver medal with Kuanysh a season later. Kudryashova isn’t a stranger to international meets either, as she was part of Kuanysh’s fourth-place finish in the 2024 AVC Women’s Club Championship.
Along with their shared experience, it’s also worth mentioning that Anastassiya Kolomoyets and Anastasiya Kudryashova were actually teammates on Kuanysh before joining Creamline, which gives them some form of chemistry in their latest career stop.
Creamline opens their Champions League campaign this April 20 against Jordan’s Al Nasser, where both “AKs” are set to don the Pink and White threads for the very first time.
Banner images from the Asian Volleyball Confederation on Facebook.