Nxled gave itself a chance to vie for an easier path to the semifinals after pulling the rug from under red-hot PLDT, 21-25, 25-23, 25-13, 25-14, to close the 2026 Premier Volleyball League (PVL) All-Filipino Conference preliminary round Thursday at the FilOil EcoOil Centre in San Juan.

Regrouping just in time after yielding the opening set, the Chameleons snatched their second straight win for a 5-4 win-loss record and went within striking distance of the top four.

Brooke Van Sickle poured 19 of her 21 points on kills and added 11 excellent receptions and nine digs for Nxled.

The Chameleons pulled away from a slim 12-11 advantage in the fourth frame with a 7-1 run capped by an ace by MJ Phillips for a 19-12 lead. Nxled blasted another 6-1 blitz iced by a Van Sickle spike and a Jonah Sabete-Escamillan kill to finish the game in one hour and 53 minutes.

Phillips had an all-around offensive night of 11 attacks, two kill blocks and three aces for the Chameleons, who outspiked the High Speed Hitters, 63-47.

“I’m really happy about my performance but honestly, I couldn’t have done this without my teammates,” the decorated middle blocker said.

“We knew that this game was really an important game. So, coming into it, we’re really locked in, make sure we communicate constantly and I think we really took care of business today. I’m happy,” Phillips added.

Escamillan scored 15 and Myla Pablo added 13 points for the Ettore Guidetti-mentored squad.

Nxled can land at the No. 4 spot if Creamline and Farm Fresh drop their final prelims assignments against Cignal and Akari.

Teams finishing in the top four will secure seats in the qualifying round, where the first two Final Four tickets are up for grabs. Squads finishing in No. 5 to No. 10 will play in the knockout Play-in stage.

“I’m really happy about what I saw during the game. I see consistency, I see regularity. I saw a very good development in our side-out. The block and defense is working great. So right now we are finally playing a pretty good volleyball together,” Guidetti said.

“So, what was about us has been done. This is the best that we can do today. Let’s see if it’s enough. Let’s have some very big crossed fingers and see if this is enough to enter the first four.”

PLDT was a shadow of the team that racked four straight wins at it hit a dead end to finish the prelims.

Despite the loss, the High Speed Hitters are already assured of a qualifying round berth with their 7-2 record.

Savi Davison had 18 points and 17 excellent receptions while Alleiah Malaluan got 13 points for PLDT. Majoy Baron and Kim Kianna Dy posted eight and six points, respectively.