FROM huge surprises to historic showings, the dust has now settled on an exhilarating start to pool play in the 2024 PVL Reinforced Conference.
Now, the ante will be upped, as all 12 teams remain in the running for eight playoff spots.
READ: How Akari's preseason changes powered a first round PVL sweep
But they won’t have a lot of time to lock in their places for there’ll only be six match days to determine which teams make the cut, final seedings, and eventual playoff matchups.
Here’s all you need to know about Round 2 of PVL prelims pool play:
Round 1 records carried over
At the conclusion of Round 1, the new groupings for Round 2 were set. Pool C features Pool A's top three and Pool B's bottom three, while Pool D has Pool B's top three and Pool A's bottom three.
And here's how the second-round pools now look like:
- POOL C: Creamline (A1), PLDT (A2), Chery Tiggo (A3), Petro Gazz (B4), Choco Mucho (B5), ZUS Coffee (B6)
- POOL D: Akari (B1), Cignal (B2), Capital1 (B3), Farm Fresh (A4), NXLED (A5), Galeries Tower (A6)
All 12 teams will carry over their respective Round 1 records come Round 2.
But this time, they'll no longer compete against teams they already faced from their initial pools, leaving each team with just three matches in total to play in the second round.
Top 8 teams, regardless of pool, advance to quarterfinals
With their first round records still taken into account, no team will enter Round 2 on a clean slate.
Here's where each team currently stands entering the home stretch of prelims pool play.
- AKARI (Pool B/D): 5-0 (13 pts)
- CREAMLINE (Pool A/C): 4-1 (13 pts)
- PLDT (Pool A/C): 4-1 (12 pts)
- CIGNAL (Pool B/D): 4-1 (12 pts)
- CHERY TIGGO (Pool A/C): 4-1 (11 pts)
- CAPITAL1 (Pool B/D): 3-2 (8 pts)
- PETRO GAZZ (Pool B/C): 2-3 (7 pts)
- FARM FRESH (Pool A/D): 2-3 (5 pts)
- CHOCO MUCHO (Pool B/C): 1-4 (5 pts)
- NXLED (Pool A/D): 1-4 (2 pts)
- GALERIES TOWER (Pool A/D): 0-5 (2 pts)
- ZUS COFFEE (Pool B/C): 0-5 (0 pts)
And by the end of the preliminaries, teams with the eight best records - regardless of whether they hail from Pool C or D - will comprise the conference's playoff cast.
In the event of a tie, among the tiebreaking metrics to be considered, in order, are match points, set ratio, points ratio, and head-to-head records between tied teams.
Knockout playoffs incoming
The entirety of the playoffs will feature knockout games — no twice-to-beat advantages and no best-of-three series.
That being said, playoff matchups will feature No. 1 vs. 8, 4 vs. 5, 3 vs. 6, and 2 vs. 7.
The semifinalists will earn the four spots for local teams in the 2024 PVL Invitational Conference this September where they'll be duking it out with two yet-to-be-named foreign guest teams.
Only one championship match and bronze medal match will ultimately determine the podium finishers of the import-laden conference.
Check out the full Round 2 schedule here:
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