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| (Image Source: Manila Bulletin/Premier Volleyball League) |
Despite its compressed timetable, the Premier Volleyball League is guaranteeing an exciting and action-packed staging of the Open Conference which unwraps March 16 at the Paco Arena Events and Sports Center in Manila.
From the original three-month schedule to mark the league's second pro season, the upcoming tournament will now be a four-week skirmish with all nine teams coming into the event all geared up for a grueling battle of power, cohesion, and style. With the compact schedule, the format of the tournament will have a pool play setup - a first for the league -to make way for the training of the national team gearing up for various international competitions, including the SEA Games in Vietnam in May. "We have to shorten the tournament and we made it to two pools to accommodate the national team which will train in Brazil as part of its buildup for the SEAG. But this will be very interesting as most teams strengthened their respective rosters during the off-season," he added. "Looking at the player movement, it will be a very competitive, exciting conference," said PVL president Ricky Palou.
Chery Tiggo, which foiled Creamline to crown itself the country's first pro volley champion in a bubble set up last year, sets out for its title defense on a team built around sisters Jaja Santiago and Dindin Santiago-Manabat with former UST stalwart EJ Laure boosting the squad's frontline threat. Creamline has also kept its star-studded roster intact with Alyssa Valdez, Jia Morado, and Jema Galanza eager to reclaim their crown, and the likes of Petro Gazz, Choco Mucho, Philippine Army, PLDT Home Fibr, BaliPure, and Cignal HD all shoring up their respective rosters for a crack at the crown. But the focus will be on F2 Logistics, now ready to bring its winning tradition to the country's first-ever pro league after withdrawing at the last minute the first time out due to injuries and a disrupted training period caused by the pandemic. The Cargo Movers, bannered by Major Baron, Kianny Dy, and Aby Maraño, have underscored their readiness by ruling the PNVF Champions League late last year via sweep. F2 Logistics was drawn to Chery Tiggo, Choco Mucho, Army, and Cignal in Pool A while Creamline heads Pool B that includes Petro Gazz, PLDT, and BaliPure. Groupings were drawn in a serpent-type format based on the final ranking of the previous Open Conference in Ilocos Norte last August. The top four in Pool A will join the Pool B squads in the knockout quarterfinals with the top two teams gaining twice-to-beat incentives.
Palou said they had to push back the Open Conference staging to another month to give the teams a longer time to train given the Covid situation in the NCR Plus and at the same time ensure all squads will reach competitive level coming off a long break. He added the tournament will still be held in a semi-bubble system with no spectators allowed in line with the government's health and safety measures. Though the alert levels have been downgraded, Palou said they still have to hold the games behind closed doors since the Paco Arena could only accommodate a small crowd. Palou said they had wanted to hold the games at the PVL's home at the San Juan Arena but couldn't since it is still being used as a vaccine center. Palou added that they looking to have three conferences in the season with the last in October to be played over two months where each team will be allowed to tap two imports to further stir up play and generate excitement under the Reinforced format. The second conference will be the Invitational.
Catch the 2022 Premier Volleyball League Open Conference starting March 16 on One Sports (analog free TV channel 41, digital free TV 497.143/695.143, Cignal channel 6, SKYcable channel 59), One Sports+ (Cignal SD channel 91 and HD channel 261), Cignal Play and Smart GigaPlay.
