Young clubs share do-or-die QF spotlight
Defending champion Creamline and All-Filipino queens Petro Gazz will be two of the teams looking to survive Monday’s no-tomorrow quarterfinal matches in the PVL Reinforced Conference.
Both teams clash in what is supposed to be a battle of volleyball royalty. Except this time, the Cool Smashers and the Angels won’t hog the limelight.
It’s the kind of refreshing trivia that leagues love to flaunt: The four quarterfinalists involved in the 1-vs-8 and 2-vs-7 pairings were not even around when those two squads won their first PVL titles
But here they are now, young teams looking to prove their stature as championship contenders.
Farm Fresh, which finished the preliminary round with the No. 1 seed, battles No. 8 Akari at 11 a.m. to kick off the two clubs owned by sports patron Frank Lao. The Foxies’ sister team, ZUS Coffee, which tabbed the No. 2 seed, battles No. 7 Capital1.
Of those four teams, the Chargers are the oldest, having joined the league in 2022. The Foxies became league members the following year, while the Thunderbelles and the Solar Spikers debuted last year.
And the rise of these young squads, particularly the top two teams so far in the tournament, has turned the Reinforced Conference into one of the most unpredictable tournaments in the PVL’s history.
“I’m super proud of our team,” said Foxies setter Alohi Robins-Hardy. “We already made history with three or four wins in a row for Farm Fresh. I think we’re not so worried about making any more history.”
Creamline and Petro Gazz will play in the second of four knockout quarterfinal matches at Smart Araneta Coliseum, which will be followed by ZUS Coffee vs Capital1. The nightcap will feature a sibling duel between PLDT and Cignal.
Robins-Hardy, the No.2 best setter with 6.17 excellent sets per frame and averaging 5.5 points per game, will lead Farm Fresh along with Belgian import Eli Rousseaux.
The Thunderbelles are heavily favored against the Solar Spikers, in a battle of clubs with explosive imports. ZUS Coffee’s Anna DeBeer is the league’s second-best scorer with a total of 210 points, just a point behind Capital1’s Sasha Bytsenko.
