By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Expect teams to go through a long and arduous road towards the championship crown when the Premier Volleyball League holds its 2024-25 All-Filipino Conference in a span of six months starting on Nov. 9.
PVL President Ricky Palou said this is the longest conference they would be organizing in the history of the league as the conference would end in May next year.
“We’re really excited about it and we’re looking forward to a memorable and competitive conference,” Palou said Monday, Nov. 4, in a press briefing at the Novotel in Quezon City.
“This is the biggest and best decision that the PVL made, and I congratulate them for this,” said Philippine National Volleyball Federation chief and Asian Volleyball Confederation president Ramon ‘Tats’ Suzara, who also officially recognized the PVL as the biggest and only pro volleyball league in the country.
Apart from the crown, the tournament also stakes a chance to represent the country in the AVC Champions League (formerly Asian Club Championship) happening in Seoul, South Korea next year.
The league will have a maximum of 103 games, with a holiday break starting on Dec. 12 to Jan. 18.
All 12 teams will play in a single-round preliminary, where they will be ranked heading to the knockout qualifying round.
A play-in tournament will also be set for losing squads in the qualifying round, giving all squads ample chances to advance to the best-of-three quarterfinals. Semifinals will be played in a round-robin format, and finals will be a best-of-three affair.
Players, coaches and team officials welcomed the new and exciting tournament format.
“Importante dito yung health ng players, so we’re working on that. Iba yung training approach namin ngayon dahil mahaba yung tournament,” said PLDT coach Rald Ricafort.
“Samin naman tinutuloy lang namin yung programa until ma-adapt namin yung system namin. Maganda na with the format, merong better time to rest, recover and map out a plan for the next game,” added Cignal mentor Shaq Delos Santos.
“We always keep that drive and intensity brought by Marina (Tushova) from our Reinforced Conference campaign. She set a good example and gave a higher bar of performance and we’re looking at sustaining that,” said Capital1 team manager Hollie Reyes.
Aside from PLDT and Cignal, the remaining teams competing are multi-titled Creamline, Akari, Chery Tiggo, Choco Mucho, Petro Gazz, Farm Fresh, Galeries Tower, Nxled, Capital1 and ZUS Coffee.
