THE Philippines’ elite Under-19 girls volleyball teams converge at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City from January 17 to 24 to crown a champion in the 2025 season of the Rebisco Volleyball League (RVL).
Visayan powerhouse Bacolod Tay Tung will shoot for a three-peat in the week-long tournament, entering the expanded field as two-time defending champions. But there won’t be a shortage of challengers and fiery newcomers looking to strike at the Thunderbolts and snatch their crown.
Among the national qualifiers from all over the country are University of San Jose-Recoletos (Cebu), Linao National High School (Leyte), Immaculate Conception Academy (Dasmariñas, Cavite), Iligan City National High School, De La Salle Lipa, Davao City National High School, Holy Trinity College (General Santos City), California Academy (Northern Luzon) and National University-Nazareth School (NCR).
This year, two foreign guest teams will add international flair to the competition come the Invitationals tournament scheduled for the final two days of the event.
Malaysia’s Persatuan Bola Tampar Sarawak and Perfect Set, a squad composed of top Fil-Am high school standouts from the US, will enter the mix at the RVL’s latter phase.
Tournament format
The 12 teams will be split into two pools of six, with one foreign team each.
Pool A features sides from Tay Tung, NUNS, Linao, Davao City, Holy Trinity and American side Perfect Set.
Pool B includes De La Salle Lipa, USJR, Iligan City, California Academy, Immaculate Conception Academy and Malaysia’s Sarawak side.
The single round-robin preliminaries of the National Finals will run from Jan. 17 to 21.
The top two teams per pool will advance to the knockout crossover semifinals on Jan. 22, with the rest relegated to the classification stage, and the tournament proceeding to the battle for third and the championship game all later that day.
Come Jan. 23, the Invitationals will commence starting with the semifinals featuring the top two local teams taking on the two foreign sides. The highest-ranked local team in the National Finals will face the lower-ranked foreign team and vice versa.
Hostilities will close on Jan. 24 with the Invitational battle for third and championship game.
By the end of the event, the 21 best players of the tournament will be recognized as the RVL Select team that will participate in a two-week training camp sponsored by Rebisco and led by the group’s club coaches in Criss Cross’ Tai Bundit, Creamline’s Sherwin Meneses and Choco Mucho’s Dante Alinsunurin.
The RVL Select team will also get a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to train with both the Cool Smashers and the Flying Titans as part of the Rebisco-backed camp.
Building for the future
Touted as the country’s biggest grassroots volleyball platform, the RVL has long served as a launching pad for the next generation of stars, with schools nationwide taking part.
The girls' league was started by Mr. Freddie Infante, who then partnered with Rebisco for it to become the league that it is today.
The most recent season alone featured close to 500 schools nationwide battling for a coveted berth in the National Finals.
Since it was established in 2017, the RVL has produced a steady stream of talent now thriving at the collegiate and professional level such as Angel Canino, Faith Nisperos, Angge Poyos and Jessa Ordiales among others.
All RVL matches will be open to the public, offering fans an opportunity to witness the sport’s rising stars up close.
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