Creamline’s Tots Carlos, right, during the title game against Kurishiki in the PVL Invitational Conference. MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
Talk about opening with a bang.
The box-office hit matchup of sister teams Creamline and Choco Mucho is on tap right in the inaugurals of the Premier Volleyball League’s second All-Filipino Conference Sunday next week, with the Cool Smashers out to learn what life is like without top setter Jia de Guzman and the Flying Titans trying to make an old nucleus finally win a championship.
De Guzman has signed with the Denson Airybees in the Japan V.League not too long ago, leaving behind the country’s most successful professional program.
The great hitters like Tots Carlos, Jema Galanza, Michelle Gumabao and Ced Domingo will still be there, though. But how they get set up will be the question everyone will be looking for an answer to with De Guzman out of the team.
Choco Mucho, meanwhile, added the firebrand Sisi Rondina to its core in the last conference and has one of the best playmakers in the league in Deanna Wong. With Kat Tolentino, Maddie Madayag, Des Cheng, Isa Molde, Bea de Leon and Aduka Ogunsanya still there, the Flying Titans certainly look capable of going all the way this time.
They will get a partial answer of their worthiness when they face the Cool Smashers at 7 p.m. at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Meanwhile, young squads Nxled and Gerflor formally get the tournament going at 3 p.m., before PLDT and Cignal, also sister teams, slug it out in the 5 p.m. contest.
This will be the second AFC for the season after the league failed to solve a fix with the international federation regarding the signing of imports.
Tournament format will be a single-round elimination with the top four squads advancing to the semifinals. The top and second seeds will take on the third and fourth-placed squads, respectively, in a best-of-three series. The winners will dispute the championship in a best-of-three playoff.