Is using too many 'if' statements bad programming?

I am curious as to if I am using too many if/else if statements. I am writing a tic-tac-toe program using javascript, and to determine if the computer should block the player I am using about 9 if statements and I use about 9 when determining if there is 3 in a row.

For example:

if(r1c1V === xOrO && r1c2V === xOrO && r1c3V === xOrO)
{
    is3InARow = true;
}
else if(r2c1V === xOrO && r2c2V === xOrO && r2c3V === xOrO)
{
    is3InARow = true;
}
else if(r3c1V === xOrO && r3c2V === xOrO && r3c3V === xOrO)
{
    is3InARow = true;
}
.
.
.
.

and so on.

So my question is, am I using too many if statements? or is there no better way to do this? My friend was telling me that I shouldn't really use that many if statements, but I am not sure if he is true or not, I can understand why in some cases that it would be slower or bad, but I am not sure.

Thanks in advance!!