THE PVL will stage a best-of-three quarterfinals for the first time in its eight-year history.
And the eight playoff teams in the 2024-25 PVL All-Filipino Conference offer an eclectic mix of perennial championship contenders and surprise packages.
READ: It's Creamline vs Chery Tiggo, ZUS Coffee vs Petro Gazz in PVL quarters
Upsets came aplenty back in the qualifying round and the play-ins which saw last year’s draft lottery teams Galeries Tower and ZUS Coffee reach the playoffs for the first time.
Will the same set of surprises shock the field come the quarterfinals or can the so-called title favorites breeze their way through to the single-round robin semifinals?
#1 CREAMLINE vs #8 CHERY TIGGO
PRELIMS (Feb. 6): Creamline def. Chery Tiggo (3-0), 25-17, 25-17, 25-21.
In terms of storylines, there’s more than a few to take in between these two champion teams.
Title rivals once upon a time in 2021, the Cool Smashers and Crossovers are now coached by the last two leaders of UAAP women’s volleyball champion National University in Norman Miguel and his successor Sherwin Meneses.
It will also be an on-court reunion of sorts for Chery Tiggo’s Risa Sato who was part of all 10 title wins of her new team’s playoff foe Creamline.
Recent history, however, favors the Cool Smashers in this matchup.
Creamline made short work of Chery Tiggo last February in prelims play in straight sets behind league-leading blocker Bea de Leon’s 13 points and Jema Galanza’s nine.
Taking the driver’s seat for the Crossovers in the losing effort was the league’s seventh-leading scorer Ara Galang, who also had 13 points to her name.
With redemption in mind, Galang & Co. will make the most of the chance to stop her longtime college rival Alyssa Valdez and Creamline’s five-peat bid on its tracks in an Ateneo-La Salle-esque best-of-three duel.
#2 PETRO GAZZ vs #7 ZUS COFFEE
PRELIMS (Feb. 4): Petro Gazz def. ZUS Coffee (3-1), 25-20, 24-26, 28-26, 25-20.
The Angels and the Thunderbelles might just be two of the hottest teams in the league right now, for quite different reasons.
For one, Petro Gazz is on a league-best 10-game win streak ahead of the quarterfinals and last lost a PVL match back in Nov. 16 against defending champion Creamline.
On the other hand, ZUS Coffee picked up two of its franchise’s most important wins yet in the recently concluded play-in tournament over Cignal and Capital1 to reach the playoffs for the very first time.
While the Thunderbelles were among the victims in the Angels’ 10-game unbeaten run, they made sure to leave a lasting impression and took the streaking second-seed to four closely-contested sets.
Arguably the league’s most lethal one-two punch in reigning conference MVP Brooke Van Sickle and a resurgent Myla Pablo took over with 49 combined points along with 10 more from middle blocker MJ Phillips.
ZUS Coffee’s own version of a power duo in newcomers Kate Santiago and Chai Troncoso connived for 40 in a brave stand that fell ever-so short in the end game.
From young guns to veterans, the Thunderbelles have the tools to pull the upset rug on a red-hot Angels side.
Will they get the job done in their first playoffs appearance or will experience be king for the two-time PVL champions?
#3 GALERIES TOWER vs #6 AKARI
PRELIMS (Nov. 9): Akari def. Galeries Tower (3-1), 28-30, 25-15, 25-16, 25-23.
Galeries Tower has come a long way from the draft lottery and just one prelims win to becoming one of the final eight playoff teams.
By stunning Cignal in the qualifying round for an outright playoff spot, the Lerma Giron-led side can write at least one more chapter to its Cinderella run if it can outlast Akari in the best-of-three quarters.
The Chargers might’ve barely carved a path to the playoffs in a five-set qualifying round escape over Farm Fresh, but they do have the upper hand on the Highrisers based on how their last meeting went down.
Akari and Galeries Tower raised the curtains in what was the first of 78 matches so far this conference back in November.
There, Akari won in four sets through Eli Soyud’s 21-piece and a trifecta of 16-point performances from its leading scorer this conference in Ivy Lacsina, Faith Nisperos and Grethcel Soltones who was two receptions shy of a triple-double.
27 combined markers didn’t quite cut it for Ysa Jimenez and rookie Jewel Encarnacion to lead the Highrisers to victory at the time.
Now armed with newfound energy, confidence and momentum, can Galeries Tower rise even higher en route to the semifinals or will Akari pull the plug on the league’s biggest surprise package to date?
#4 PLDT vs #5 CHOCO MUCHO
PRELIMS (Jan. 23): Choco Mucho def. PLDT (3-1), 21-25, 25-22, 25-18, 25-18.
Of the four playoff pairings, there isn’t one as star-studded and intriguing as the oncoming showdown between title contenders PLDT and Choco Mucho.
For starters, both teams will enter the playoffs on lengthy win runs — seven for the Flying Titans and five for the High Speed Hitters including Creamline’s first and only loss this conference so far.
But before PLDT rode on this ongoing streak, it was Choco Mucho that last gave them a taste of defeat two months ago.
Former PVL MVP Sisi Rondina led a quartet of Flying Titans in double figures with 20 points and 10 receptions to nix this conference’s MVP frontrunner Savi Davison’s 27-point, 15-reception double-double.
It won’t be a simple task by any stretch to stop Davison, the league’s leading scorer and spiker, who just came off an encore of her career-best 34-point game in the qualifying round against ZUS Coffee.
With an abundance of playoff experience, veteran leaders like Rondina and Dindin Santiago-Manabat and a loud and proud ‘Ube Nation’ to rally them on, Choco Mucho will be out to give PLDT a proper fight for a spot in the last four.
And so, will red shine brighter than purple by the end of this enthralling affair?
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