Jaja Santiago-Minowa’s first regular Premier Volleyball League (PVL) tournament back reminds her of her last competition on local soil half a decade ago.

Powerhouse Creamline’s biggest recruit for the coming 2026-2027 season-opening Invitational Conference braces for a challenging endurance test in the short tilt slated to begin on 31 August.

The six-team Invitationals, which also features foreign guest teams from Thailand and Vietnam, will run on a tight nine-day schedule with three rest days.

It will be played in a single-round robin preliminary and a winner-take-all championship at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

For the 6-foot-5 Minowa, it’s like playing in the Ilocos Norte bubble back in 2021 when she led the now-defunct Chery Tiggo to the Open Conference throne as the country’s first-ever women’s professional volleyball champion.

“It reminds me of the first PVL (professional era) where we played consecutive games,” said Santiago, who gave a glimpse of what she could bring to the Cool Smashers in her debut stint in the pre-season PVL On Tour Showdown last Saturday in Victorias City, Negros Occidental.

“So, what’s important is for us to be able to quickly recover from the first game, second game, and the next matches. There’s no question about the skills, but managing exhaustion and wear will be the tricky part. The challenge is to know how to recover and make the most of your short rest because you’ll be back playing another game the next day,” added the naturalized Japanese citizen.

Minowa, who was named Conference and Finals Most Valuable Player in 2021, scored all six of her points on kills as Creamline swept Galeries Tower, 25-21, 25-16, 25-21, for a clean two-game sweep of the On Tour Showdown.