Chery Tiggo and Akari try to sustain their hot start when they clash with separate foes on Thursday, Oct. 19, in the Premier Volleyball League All-Filipino Conference at the FilOil EcoOil Arena in San Juan City.

The Crossovers square off with newcomers Galeries Tower Highrisers at 3 p.m. while the Chargers tangle with the PLDT High Speed Hitters at 5 p.m.

Choco Mucho and Farm Fresh, who are both licking their wounds from their respective first-game losses, seek to bounce back when they battle at 7 p.m.

Chery Tiggo opened its title bid on a bright note with a 25-21, 25-23, 25-22 victory over Farm Fresh two days back, but the stalwarts of coach Aaron Velez needed to start strong after playing catch-up against the Foxies.

Velez pins his hopes on sister Eya and EJ Laure to carry the fight anew for the Crossovers after the duo combined for 27 points including 24 attacks the last time.

Reinforcements will also come from setter Jasmine Nabor, Princess Robles and Imee Hernandez.

Galeries Tower, meanwhile, aims for its first win in the league after falling short against Petro Gazz, 25-11, 26-24, 25-22.

In the other matchup, Akari is looking at bringing its momentum in its match against PLDT after a morale-boosting 21-25, 25-20, 27-25, 19-25, 15-8 win over fancied F2 Logistics last Tuesday, Oct. 17.

Fifi Sharma, who finished with 13 points, is confident the team can deliver once again.

“Our mindset is to give it our all. We made our mark, we made a statement and we showed na may ibubuga kami,” said Sharma, who is expected to join forces once again with Dindin Manabat, Faith Nisperos and Princess Madrigal.

Still, Akari remains wary of PLDT, which is hoping to recover from a 25-16, 20-25, 25-21, 25-20 loss to Cignal last Sunday, Oct. 15.