Creamline and Chery Tiggo resume their respective title bids following a weeklong respite when they tackle separate foes Thursday, Nov. 24, at the start of the semifinal round in the Premier Volleyball League Reinforced Conference at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.
The top-seeded Cool Smashers clash against the Petro Gazz Angels at 2:30 p.m. while the Crossovers collide with the Cignal HD Spikers at 5:30 p.m. in a pair of thrilling matchups of four teams seekings to set the tone in the round-robin phase.
Creamline is coming off a successful preliminaries campaign where it topped the standings with a 7-1 record – its lone loss coming at the hands of F2 Logistics last Nov. 8.
The Cool Smashers aim to duplicate their first-meeting feat with the third-ranked Angels last Oct. 18, where they prevailed 25-19, 16-25, 25-18, 27-25, behind the combined 55-point effort of Yeliz Basa, Jema Galanza and Alyssa Valdez.
The Angels, who finished the prelims with a 5-3 mark, are expected to draw strength from Lindsey Vander Weide, MJ Phillips and Myla Pablo in challenging the depth of the Cool Smashers.
Still reeling from a 25-16, 25-22, 27-25 defeat to F2 Logistics at the end of the prelims last Tuesday, Nov. 22, Petro Gazz hopes to regain its old form with Aiza Pontillas, Djanel Cheng and Remy Palma also out to provide help.
Like Creamline, Chery Tiggo also targets a repeat of its 25-23, 20-25, 25-21, 25-20 prelims victory over Cignal last Oct. 15.
But the HD Spikers are all pumped up after clinching the last semis ticket two days back with a four-set win over Choco Mucho to finish the prelims at 5-3.
Tai Bierria and Ces Molina are slated to lead Cignal anew after their double-digit performance against the Flying Titans, but remain wary of Chery Tiggo’s lethal pair in Mylene Paat and Jelena Cvijovic.