November 9 ------ The highly anticipated 2024-25 Premier Volleyball League (PVL) All-Filipino Conference is set to launch today featuring a new schedule aligned with the FIVB calendar. This conference will span six months, promising exciting volleyball action. Last season’s finalist Choco Mucho will kick off its redemption campaign against Petro Gazz in the opening day’s main match at 6:30 p.m. at the Philsports Arena.
The Angels entered the previous tournament as the top seed but were eliminated in the round-robin semifinals. Meanwhile, Akari, which made a significant impact in the recent Reinforced Conference, will battle Galeries Tower at 4:00 p.m. on the same day. Defending champion and Grand Slam winner Creamline Cool Smashers will make their debut on November 16, facing their rivals, the Angels, at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City.
The retooled Chery Tiggo, now under new head coach Norman Miguel, will begin their campaign against the promising Capital1 squad on November 12. Earlier that day, the formidable PLDT will square off against the Nxled team, coached by Ettore Guidetti, at the Philsports Arena. ZUS Coffee, featuring the inaugural first overall pick Thea Gagate, will play its first game on November 14 against the Chargers at the Filoil EcoOil Arena. The last two teams set to make their debuts are Cignal and Farm Fresh, which will face off against each other on November 16.
A much-anticipated rematch of last season’s AFC finals between the Cool Smashers and the Flying Titans is scheduled for December 3 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. Additionally, PLDT and Akari will clash on December 14, marking their first encounter since their controversial semifinal battle.
The PVL will also return to the provinces, engaging its massive fan bases after holding all games in the last two conferences in Metro Manila. The league will make stops in Candon, Ilocos Sur (November 23), Cebu (December 7), and Passi, Iloilo, on February 22 to close the first round. After the preliminaries, all the teams will be ranked from 1 to 12 according to the FIVB Classification system.
In the qualifying round, teams will be paired according to their final ranking from the preliminaries, with the matchups as follows: Rank 1 will face Rank 12, Rank 2 will compete against Rank 11, Rank 3 will go up against Rank 10, Rank 4 will take on Rank 9, Rank 5 will challenge Rank 8, and Rank 6 will square off against Rank 7, with the winning teams advancing to the playoffs. The losing teams will drop to the play-in tournament.
In the play-in tournament, losing teams from the qualifying round will have another chance to advance to the playoffs, with teams ranked according to their preliminary standings; the highest-ranked team will be designated as Rank 7 and the lowest as Rank 12. The tournament will consist of two groups: Group 1 will include Rank 7, Rank 10, and Rank 11, while Group 2 will consist of Rank 8, Rank 9, and Rank 12.
Each group will play a single round, with the top team from each group qualifying for the playoffs, where the Group 1 winner will become Rank 7 and the Group 2 winner will become Rank 8. The quarterfinals will be a best-of-three series with the winners advancing to the round-robin semifinals. In case of a tie in the semifinal round, a play-off match will be played to determine the finalists. The championship series is a best-of-three affair.
Source: tiebreakertimes.com.ph
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