Farm Fresh primed up for the playoffs with a 25-17, 25-23, 29-27 victory over also-ran Chery Tiggo to end its 2025 Premier Volleyball League (PVL) Reinforced Conference preliminary round on a high note Thursday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Belgian reinforcement Eli Rousseaux led the way in the Foxies’ fourth straight win for a 7-1 win-loss record in Pool D.

The winger hammered 17 attacks and had three kill blocks to finish with 20 points and had nine digs in the one-hour, 37-minute battle.

Ces Molina added 14 markers and Trisha Tubu pounded 13 points for Farm Fresh, who momentarily climbed to the top spot.

The Foxies will earn the knockout quarterfinal top seeding if Petro Gazz defeats PLDT in their prelimimary round meeting, still being played as of press time. 

It was a sweep, but Farm Fresh head Alessandro Lodi said it was tougher than it looked.      

“Yeah, well, we did not expect anything different or really wished for anything different. As I said before the game, as I told my team before the game, I hope it’s going to be a tough game because we need those. We need to work hard and keep preparing for next week, which will be, of course, the decisive matches. So, it was expected,” the Italian mentor said.

“I think we played well in the first part of the game for most stretches of the first two sets, with some things to clean up, clearly, as we always have but we were able to manage the game pretty well.”

Cuban Yuni Robles-Batista unleashed 28 points and gave the Foxies fits especially in the extended third set.

Her effort, however, went to naught as the Crossovers wrapped their run with a disappointing 2-6 card at 10th spot.

Ara Galang and Mylene Paat posted nine and eight points, respectively, for Chery Tiggo.

In the first game, Capital1 rallied from a sluggish opening set and averted disaster in the next frame to essay a 12-25, 29-27, 25-19, 25-18 victory over Galeries Tower for a 4-4 slate in Pool D.

Ukrainian import Oleksandra Bytsenko fired 32 kills in her 35-point explosion to fuel the Solar Spikers, who flirted with disaster before finding their groove to avoid an upset at the end of the two-phase preliminary round.

Top overall pick in the recent Draft, Bella Belen, added 14 markers and 15 digs for Capital1, which can end up at the sixth spot to face the No. 3 seeded team in the quarterfinals.

The Solar Spikers outranked No. 8 seed Akari (4-4) via superior tiebreak points of 13-12. Capital1 will secure the sixth seed if Petro Gazz loses to PLDT. 

The Chargers will take on the top seed in the quarters.

The Solar Spikers stared at a 21-24 deficit over the winless High Risers in the second set, putting them in a dangerous position to go down by a pair of frames.

Capital1 mounted an inspired fightback and forced a deuce before Bytsenko, Belen and Sydney Niegos, who finished with seven markers, delivered the finishing touches to steal the extended set.     

The hard-earned escape instantly shifted the momentum to Capital1’s side.  

“We knew that it’s gonna be super hard since (Galeries) has nothing to lose and also we have to show up because our last two matches were a little bit under the level that we intend to play,” Capital1 coach Jorge Souza De Brito said.

“We’ve been working to make this happen, and not occasionally, you have more than six players to help us, and it’s an important part that we work as a team; we did it again,” he added.

Galeries closed a forgettable campaign listless in eight starts.

Montenegrin Jelena Cvijovic scored 18 points and got 15 receptions to lead the High Risers.

France Ronquillo had 17 points and nine digs, Jean Asis and Ysa Jimenez chipped in 12 and 11 points, respectively, while setter Julia Coronel tallied 22 excellent sets on top of five points for Galeries.