PVL brings back round-robin semifinals

FILE – A general view of the record PVL crowd during Game 2 of the Finals between Creamline and Choco Mucho on Saturday at Araneta Coliseum.–PVL PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — The Premier Volleyball League (PVL) brings the thrill of the semifinals round-robin to the 2024 All-Filipino Conference, which fires off on Tuesday at Philsports Arena.

The league on Wednesday announced that the All-Filipino Final Four will no longer play crossover semis as they will fight for the two finals berths through another round-robin, which was used in the past two Invitational Conference and Reinforced two years ago.

But this time, in case there is a tie for the No. 2 seed of the semis, the last ticket will be disputed through a playoff game and will no longer be using the FIVB system of classification to break a tie in the Final Four.

“That’s what we wanted because if you think about it, the best-of-three reaches six games if there’s Game 3. It will be better if you will face again [your fellow semifinalist]. You have to be the best of the best to enter the finals,” said PVL commissioner Sherwin Malonzo in Filipino. “We just added a playoff in case there will be a tie to give an opportunity to the teams to fight it out who deserves to be in the gold medal match.”

In the 2022 Reinforced Conference, Creamline’s Grand Slam hopes were shattered after ending up with a triple tie at 3-1 with Petro Gazz and Cignal, who gained the superior set points and set their Finals series.

Malonzo said that the playoff is only applicable in the semis as in case there will be a tie in the elimination round, the FIVB system of classification will break the tie with the top four among the 12 teams advancing to the semis round.

The PVL has aligned its calendar to the FIVB national team schedule as the second conference will be the Reinforced Invitational, which features foreign players and overseas guest teams in the semifinals.

The league will have the 2024-25 All-Filipino Conference from Oct. 2024 to May 2025, offering an extended season with a double round-robin elimination format, following the quarterfinals to determine the semifinalists. the best of Philippine volleyball.

“I have a proposal because I know a lot of fans are clamoring for quarterfinals so I decided a format for the all-new All-Filipino to be longer but in a way, it will level the playing field. We want to have a quarterfinals to determine the final four,” said Malonzo.

“It will be exciting for the fans and cardiac for the coaches,” he added with laughter.

The PVL is also introducing the green card, which is given to the team that admits an uncalled or close-call infraction against itself to the referee, such as hitting the ball out or touching the net.

The league is bringing the technical timeouts back to 8 and 16 points and two regular timeouts as the coaches can no longer talk to the players during a video challenge after changing the format last year when they tried to reduce the length of the games. 

PVL president Ricky Palou said this 12-team field is “as strong as ever” after Capital1 and Strong Group Athletics joined defending champion Creamline, runner-up Choco Mucho, Cignal, Chery Tiggo, Petro Gazz, PLDT, Akari, Nxled, Farm Fresh, and Galeries.

Strong Group opens the new season on Tuesday against Petro Gazz at 4 p.m. at Philsports Arena, while Capital1 debuts against Chery Tiggo at 6 p.m.

Games are scheduled every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, with teams battling it out in a round-robin format throughout the preliminary round from February 20 to April 27.