KOBE Shinwa grabbed the last seat in the 2025 PVL Invitational finals after a reverse sweep of Chery Tiggo, 21-25, 17-25, 26-24, 25-22, 15-6, on Friday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Nagisa Komatsuda became the 39th member of the league’s 30-point club as she helped the foreign guest team complete a pulsating come-from-behind victory and set up a title showdown with PLDT.
Arisu Ishikawa also registered the team's first triple-double of the tournament with 11 points, 13 digs and 16 receptions.
Team captain Sakura Furuta posted 33 excellent sets and four points to lead the young Japanese side, which has an average age of just 19 years old.
The Japanese side will be carrying the momentum of a three-game unbeaten run in their second pursuit of a championship on local shores, eight years since winning the Philippine Superliga (PSL) Invitational Cup.
They end the single-round preliminaries with four wins in five matches behind their unbeaten title rival PLDT at 5-0.
Kobe Shinwa’s Kiyokazu Yamamoto earns the chance to become only the second head coach to win a PVL and PSL title since Godfrey Okumu-led University of the Philippines won the collegiate titles of both leagues in 2018.
Meanwhile, Chery Tiggo falls a win short of setting up a championship grudge match with PLDT and will instead challenge Creamline for the bronze medal.
Ara Galang had 19 points and 16 digs backed by Jen Nierva's best game back from Alas Pilipinas duties with a 26-dig, 24-reception double-double.
Cess Robles went for 18 points while middle blocker Imee Hernandez added 17, only to run out of gas in the end.
Mamba mentality
Kobe Shinwa went on an 11-2 run in the fifth set to hit the brakes on Chery Tiggo's bid for a second straight finals appearance.
Head coach Yamamoto kept reminding his players from two sets down to just enjoy the match as they've done in the past few days, regardless of the outcome.
"In the first and second sets, all the players were really nervous. We were not able to play our game straight away. I told my players in the third set to change their mindsets," Yamamoto said.
"Sakura and Nagisa struggled to show their games in the start. They forgot to enjoy their volleyball on the court. I told them that they should enjoy playing in this big venue to play better in this game."
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