The 2024 PVL Reinforced Conference knockout quarterfinals continue at the FilOil EcoOil Centre on Tuesday. The winners advance to the semifinals, with one team facing Akari, the other taking on Cignal.
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Here’s what you need to know.
#3 Creamline vs. #6 Petro Gazz
WHEN: Tuesday, August 27, 6 p.m.
WHERE: FilOil EcoOil Centre
WATCH: One Sports, One Sports+, RPTV, Pilipinas Live, pvl.ph/live
All comes down to desire
In the PVL’s seven-year history, only two teams have won multiple championships — Creamline with eight and Petro Gazz, two.
Such a record would make the Cool Smashers the overwhelming favorites. Add the fact that Creamline had beaten Petro Gazz 24 times in 31 meetings since 2019. But the situation this year appears different. Petro Gazz seems to be enjoying a more successful run, having won its titles in the last two editions of the import-laden conference.
Petro Gazz star Wilma Salas will again in the forefront of this coming match as her team goes for a three-peat with help from reigning PVL MVP Brooke Van Sickle.
Petro Gazz is expected to play confidently after beating Creamline this season in a two-hour, 46-minute five-setter, where Van Sickle and Salas combined for 58 points and put to naught the 60-point joint output from American import Erica Staunton, Bernadeth Pons and Michele Gumabao.
Undermanned Creamline’s biggest test yet
Creamline has played in 14 PVL conferences dating back to the league’s inaugural edition in 2017, and has never missed the podium. During that period, it won eight titles, had three runner-up finishes and was third three times.
That record may come to an end with a loss on Tuesday and may mark the team's worst PVL campaign in seven years.
Though Creamline managed to score six wins to gain the No. 3 seed after pool play without its MVP trio of Alyssa Valdez, Tots Carlos and Jema Galanza, their absence in the playoffs may prove catastrophic for the team.
Their absence is a huge blow for sure, but in the words of lead setter Kyle Negrito, ‘Creamline pa rin naman kami.’
Those words can only come from a team with a championship tradition. Creamline may have lost some star power, but it believes its new-born power trio of Staunton, Pons and Gumabao will carry the day for the Cool Smashers.
Petro Gazz peaking at the right, and best, time
The Petro Gazz team that began pool play, on the other hand, looks completely different from the team that ended as the No. 6 seed.
The Angels have dealt with recurring injuries and illnesses during the preliminary round, one that led to a rare three-game skid and almost saw the two-time defending champs missing out on a playoffs spot.
But once the team regained full strength, the skid was followed by a four-game win streak with the league’s sixth-leading scorer Van Sickle (178 points, 22.25 per game) and eighth-leading scorer Salas (171 points, (21.38 per game), showing the way.
Arguably the PVL’s most lethal one-two punch dominated most, if not all, skill departments at the end of pool play.
Van Sickle is also the league’s best server (0.43 aces per set), fifth-best receiver (41.45% efficiency), seventh-best digger (2.90 digs per set) and eighth-best spiker (35.19% efficiency).
Salas, meanwhile, ranks second in spiking (38.16% efficiency) and fourth in receiving (41.54% efficiency).
Such staggering numbers are never to be underestimated. And when push comes to shove, Petro Gazz may prove to be more than Creamline's equal.
#4 PLDT vs. #5 Chery Tiggo
WHEN: Tuesday, August 27, 4 p.m.
WHERE: FilOil EcoOil Centre
WATCH: One Sports, One Sports+, RPTV, Pilipinas Live, pvl.ph/live
PLDT out to deny Chery Tiggo prelims encore
PLDT contested three five-setters during the preliminary round — all against PVL champion teams.
It won its conference-opener in five over Creamline but dropped its next two against Chery Tiggo and Petro Gazz, their only defeats in eight prelims games, to secure the No. 4 seed.
Despite Kim Fajardo’s 25 excellent sets and captain Kath Arado’s 15 digs and 14 receptions to clear the playmaking and defensive departments, PLDT was left flat-footed upon playing catch-up all-match long and falling short come the fifth-set tiebreak.
Will Crossovers ring the ‘Bell’ again?
39 points on 33 attacks, five blocks and one ace.
Chery Tiggo’s champion guest import Khat Bell put on a show, and her best performance this conference to date, in its five-set victory over PLDT in pool play.
She’d go on to be the league’s third-leading scorer at the end of the prelims with 200 total points (25 per game), and also ranked fourth in spiking (36.99% efficiency) and seventh in blocking (0.47 per set).
Standing in her way is another returning foreign player in Lena Samoilenko, who led the PVL in scoring back in her first act for PLDT in 2022.
But even a steady 24-piece from the 6-foot-4 Russian spiker couldn’t repel Bell-led Chery Tiggo’s winning drive.
Local support needed
Chery Tiggo head coach Kungfu Reyes once described his core of local players as the ‘backbone’ of his team, even as Bell continues to carry a huge chunk of their scoring load this conference.
While Ara Galang pitched in 23 points to help Bell out against PLDT, the win still became possible despite no other Crossover hitting double figures.
On the flip side, Erika Santos’ 20 and a Fiola Ceballos triple-double of 16 points, 24 receptions and 14 digs made sure there’d be enough local support to back Samoilenko on both ends.
Although their prelims contest was ultimately decided by the imports, a high-stakes knockout playoff match would require more than just one player to get the job done for a spot in the semifinals and the upcoming Invitational Conference.
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