ONE last spot in the 2024-25 PVL All-Fiipino Conference quarterfinals is up for grabs on the final day of the inaugural play-in tournament on Thursday.
ZUS Coffee has one foot in the door after stunning Cignal in its first play-in match in five sets. The latter, however, isn’t out of the equation just yet.
READ: Proud ZUS Coffee not settling for anything, even for draft picks
Though Capital1 (0 points) is already out of playoff contention by virtue of both ZUS Coffee (4 points) and Cignal (2 points) picking up at least one match point in their five-set contest, it can still play spoiler to the Thunderbelles’ dream run and lend the HD Spikers a helping hand.
In terms of match points, a team gets three points for a three or four-set win, two points for a five-set win, and one point for a five-set loss.
Before ZUS Coffee and Capital1 close out the play-ins on Thursday, SPIN.ph lays down two straightforward paths on how one of the Thunderbelles or the HD Spikers can set up a best-of-three quarterfinals duel with two-seed Petro Gazz.
ZUS COFFEE (1-0; 2 pts): Win vs. Capital1 to advance
It will take just one more win for ZUS Coffee against Capital1 to become the eighth and final playoff entrant.
Giving added breathing room to the Thunderbelles is the fact that the number of sets it will take won’t affect their brewing playoff bid.
May it be in three, four, or five sets, ZUS Coffee just needs to get the job done and defeat the Solar Spikers on Thursday to complete a two-game play-ins sweep and top Pool A for the last quarterfinals ticket.
Moreover, recent history between last year’s top two drafting teams would also favor the Thunderbelles.
ZUS Coffee made short work of Capital1 in a 31-29, 25-15, 25-15 sweep when these two squads met in prelims play back in Jan. 25.
If history was to repeat itself, then the Thunderbelles will be marching onto the playoffs for the first time in its young franchise history.
CIGNAL (1-1; 4 pts): Capital1 win vs. ZUS Coffee to advance
Cignal no longer holds its own playoff fate, as that now rests completely in Capital1’s hands.
It’s because a Solar Spikers win - which will force a triple tie at 1-1 across the board in Pool A - will deprive the Thunderbelles of the three match points they need for a superior tiebreak metric over the HD Spikers.
Simply put, if Capital1 defeats ZUS Coffee, Cignal advances to the quarterfinals.
And parallel to ZUS Coffee’s winning scenario, Capital1 just needs to win — may it be in three, four or five sets — to tow Cignal to the final eight.
To make this possible, the Solar Spikers must find an answer to their Thunderbelles riddle and pull off what can loosely be described as a stunner of a victory given how the former has only won once in 13 games this conference.
CAPITAL1 (0-1; 0 pts): Out of playoff contention; enters draft lottery
Even if a Capital1 win over ZUS Coffee draws Pool A level at 1-1, the Solar Spikers will unfortunately hold the short end of the stick for they can no longer surpass Cignal's four match points in any outcome of their play-ins finale.
However, Capital1 might have just won the long game by landing at least a top four pick in the oncoming 2025 PVL Rookie Draft which might just feature some college volleyball A-listers who could soon be game-changing faces of the league's bottom-feeding franchises.
At least for now, the Solar Spikers have a choice of crashing ZUS Coffee's playoff parade while at the same time pushing Cignal straight up to the quarterfinals come Thursday, 6:30 p.m. at the Philsports Arena.
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