FILE–Kurashiki Ablaze after winning the 2023 PVL Invitational Conference title. MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines — Defending champion Kurashiki Ablaze of Japan and Thai club EST Cola battle the Reinforced Conference Final Four teams in the 2024 PVL Invitationals starting September 4.
The league on Saturday announced the two guest teams for the third edition of the Invitational Conference with Kurashiki eyeing its second straight PVL title and EST Cola returning to the Philippines after eight years.
The two foreign clubs will take on Reinforced Final Four Akari, Cignal, Creamline, and PLDT in a single round-robin with the top two teams setting a winner-take-all final on Sept.12.
READ: Kurashiki Ablaze dethrone Creamline to rule PVL Invitational Conference
The Japan V.League club swept all of its six games last year capped by a dramatic 19-25, 25-23, 25-19, 20-25, 15-13 win over Creamline with Asaka Tamaru drilling the title-clinching ace to emerge as the first foreign team to rule the PVL.
EST Cola, on the other hand, is returning to the Philippines since the 2016 Philippine Superliga Invitationals, where it finished as runner-up, losing to Army, led by Tina Salak.
Sutadta Chuewulim, who reinforced Galeries Tower this year, was part of EST Cola when it last competed in Manila.
EST Cola will be fielding the U-20 Thailand volleyball team.
READ: Kurashiki Ablaze savors PVL experience, ‘100 percent sure of returning’
Kurashiki, which is parading Best Outside Spiker Tamaru and MVP of the Final Kyoka Ohshima, expressed its excitement to compete in the PVL anew and give back to the Filipino community like what it did last year.
“[Aside from the] games, we will give back as much as possible as an invited team by holding volleyball classes for children in impoverished areas and interacting with university teams,” said the club. “We hope to enliven the volleyball world through this activity, which will help develop the volleyball game between the two countries and act as a bridge between them.”
The Japanese team has been taking part in the PVL since joining last year with head coach Hideo Suzuki being the consultant for Farm Fresh and Shota Sato calling the shots for the Foxies, who made a breakthrough PVL quarterfinal appearance in his first tournament.
Tamaru also served as an import for ZUS Coffee and has been working as an assistant coach for the University of the East and Farm Fresh with her husband Sato.