THE PVL will soon raise the curtains on a nationwide preseason spectacle as the PVL on Tour goes underway on Sunday.
PVL president Ricky Palou underscored the importance of bringing the games to several provinces all over the country and raising the bar of competitive play in the league.
READ: Alas Pilipinas players to miss PVL action until mid-October
“This tour is about connecting with our regional fans and helping the national team gear up for bigger battles,” said Palou.
“It’s also a stage for clubs to evaluate their new recruits and recalibrate strategies before the main season.”
Here’s all you need to know ahead of the PVL on Tour’s opening salvo:
Tour format
The 12 PVL teams have been split into two pools of six.
Newly-crowned All-Filipino Conference champion Petro Gazz headlines Pool A along with Choco Mucho, PLDT, Farm Fresh, Galeries Tower, and Nxled.
Creamline leads the way in Pool B where it is joined by Cignal, Akari, Chery Tiggo, Capital1, and ZUS Coffee.
Each provincial stop will have two consecutive match days in which four teams at a time from a single pool will get to play twice.
For Metro Manila games, that being the Playtime Filoil Centre in San Juan, the three separate match days will only feature two games each — one from each pool.
After the preliminary round, a two-day knockout round will follow suit before the knockout playoffs, semis and winner-take-all finals.
Second day of the knockout round and both quarterfinals game days will be at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City while the knockout round opener and both semis and finals will be at the Playtime Filoil Centre.
Seven stops nationwide
As per the latest PVL schedule release, six provincial stops are slated for the duration of pool play.
The first stop will be at the all-new Chavit Coliseum in Vigan City, Ilocos Sur.
Matchups between Akari and Cignal (4 p.m.) followed by Capital1 and Creamline (6:30 p.m.) will kickstart the PVL on Tour on Sunday.
It will be followed by another Vigan double-header on Monday featuring Cignal and Capital1 (4 p.m.) and Creamline and Akari (6:30 p.m.).
The rest of the provincial stops include Batangas City (June 28 to 29), Montalban, Rizal (July 5 to 6), Ilagan City, Isabela (July 12 to 13), Passi, Iloilo (July 19 to 20) and Cebu City (July 26 to 27).
The three Metro Manila pool play games in San Juan will be on July 1, 15 and 29.
Altogether, the PVL on Tour will run from June 22 in Vigan to August 16 in San Juan.
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