AHEAD of its 'biggest conference ever,' the Premier Volleyball League (PVL) is set to roll out a series of format and rule changes for the second All-Filipino wars of the 2023 season.
READ: PVL launches biggest conference ever with battle of sister teams
In the league's press launch on Wednesday, newly appointed PVL competition director Sherwin Malonzo bared multiple changes to the forthcoming conference which kicks off with a star-studded triple-header on Sunday.
Here are some noteworthy changes to look out for in the 2023 PVL All-Filipino Conference.
Single-round robin prelims
Unlike previous conferences which featured two groups of four to six teams each in the elimination round, all 12 teams will now square off against each other in a single-round robin for playoff seeding.
"Twelve teams will now have the opportunity to play against each other, so that will be about 66 matches," Malonzo said.
"Come semifinals, it's gonna be the top four teams to be pooled as #1 vs. #4 and #2 vs. #3 and then play a best-of-three (series)," he added.
For this conference, both the championship and bronze medal matchups will be contested through best-of-three series.
One regular and one technical timeout per set
Team timeouts will look slightly different for the season-ending conference.
There will now just be one regular 30-second timeout and one technical timeout per set in each match.
Unlike the usual two technical timeouts when a team reaches both the eight and 16-point marks in a set, only one technical timeout at the 13-point mark will take place for 'about one to two minutes.'
Such changes, according to Malonzo, are prompted by the extended length of matches in previous conferences since the video challenge system was introduced.
“Since the introduction of the video challenge, humaba yung games natin lalo na kapag nag-five sets,” said Malonzo. "We’re introducing one technical timeout for this conference. When the first team reaches 13 points, we’ll have the technical timeout. It may last for as short as one minute or as long as two minutes."
'Change court' only after Set 2
With the exception of PVL games played during the pandemic and shortly after, teams traditionally switch courts after every set.
Starting this conference, however, the 'change court' procedure will now happen once in the entire match — at the end of Set 2.
“Ang change court natin will be once na lang – in the second set,” said Malonzo. “Each set, except for the second to third set, still a three-minute break but the when we change court on the second set going towards the third set, it’s going to be a five-minute break just to give enough time to the coaches to give instructions also.”
“Advantage nun, yung three minutes all yours. Walang change court so you can get more to give instructions to the team or to rest yung players. Fifth set, walang change court," he added
Coaches may talk to players during video challenges
Among key areas of contention in previous conferences is whether or not coaches should be allowed to give instructions to players on-court while a video challenge review is ongoing.
To give clarity on this matter, Malonzo revealed that coaches are now permitted to do so this conference.
"'Yung video challenge, it will still be the same – two per set. Hangga't tama kayo sa video challenge, hindi siya mababawasan at pwede nang kausapin yung players during video challenges," said Malonzo.
As is the case since the inception of the said system, each team will still have two challenges per set which will stay intact for every successful challenge issued.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
