The Premier Volleyball League is introducing a fresh new format for the coming Reinforced Conference to heighten the excitement and add more thrill to what promises to be an action-packed competition unveiling on 16 July at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.
In line with its mission to deliver top-notch matches, the country’s first and only professional women’s volleyball league has divided its 12 teams into two groups based on their rankings from the recent All-Filipino Conference.
Champion Creamline, Chery Tiggo, Farm Fresh, Galeries Tower, Nxled and PLDT comprise Pool A.
Reigning Reinforced Conference titlist Petro Gazz, on the other hand, headlines the Pool B roster joined by Akari, Capital1, Cignal, Choco Mucho and Zus Coffee.
The group phase will feature two stages, starting with a single round-robin format.
In the second round, the top three teams from Pool A will face the bottom three from Pool B in Pool C, while the top three squads from Pool B will compete against the lower-ranked teams of Pool A in Pool D.
Following the preliminaries, teams will be ranked using the FIVB Classification System. The top eight squads will move on to the knockout quarterfinals. Winners will advance to the semifinals, which will also be decided in a do-or-die match.
The top two teams from the semis will compete in a winner-take-all gold medal match, while the losers will battle for bronze.
The PVL Reinforced Conference will feature three games on all preliminary game days, paving the way for the Invitational Conference set for September.
Kicking off the import-laden tournament is the showdown between the Highrisers bannered by Brazilian reinforcement Monique Helena and Nxled squad, which has yet to reveal its import, at 2 p.m.
American spiker Katherine Bell and the Crossovers will challenge the Foxies, who have yet to name its foreign player, at 4 p.m.
The main event at 6 p.m. will see the Cool Smashers, led by American Erika Staunton, going up against returning Russian hitter Lena Samoilenko and the PLDT High Speed Hitters.