By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
The Premier Volleyball League (PVL) will launch the first of a projected three conferences this season on Feb. 16 under a bubble-type setup amid the ongoing pandemic crisis.
The Open Conference will feature at least 10 teams and will hopefully jumpstart the three-conference season to mark its second year as a professional league.
Organizer Sports Vision is looking at either the Paco Arena in Manila or the Royale Tagaytay as venue but subject to the approval of the local government unit concerned and the Games and Amusements Board (GAB).
“We have Royale Tagaytay as our backup venue in case we won’t be allowed to hold our games in Manila,” Sports Vision President Ricky Palou said.
If plans push through, this wouldn’t be the first time that the league holds a bubble-type tournament.
Last year, the league organized its Open Conference for almost a month in Ilocos Norte where the Chery Tiggo Crossover clinched the title at the expense of Creamline Cool Smashers.
The Open Conference will run through three months, featuring a single round-robin preliminaries with the Top 4 clashing in a pair of best-of-three semifinal series. Winners will dispute the crown.
Aside from Chery Tiggo and Creamline, other teams gearing up for PVL resumption are BaliPure, Choco Mucho, Cignal HD, Perlas Spikers, Petro Gazz, Black Mamba Army, and PLDT.
New teams have also expressed their interest to join following Sta. Lucia’s announcement that it would take a leave of absence this season, but Palou said they are still deliberating on this.
Sta. Lucia Lady Realtors team manager Buddy Encarnado said their decision to take a leave of absence was for the health and safety of its athletes amid the pandemic crisis.
That left key players Mika Reyes, Aiza Pontillas, MJ Phillips and Djanel Cheng, to name a few, available for other teams.
