PVL pits best PH teams against Japan, Taiwan squads in 2022 Invitational

MANILA, Philippines – The fight for volleyball supremacy starts Saturday, July 9 as the Premier Volleyball League (PVL) returns.

Open Conference champion Creamline shoots for back-to-back titles in the league’s second conference of the season, where the Cool Smashers and six other teams vie for the crown.

In a twist to the usual format, the top four teams in the single round preliminaries will advance to the next stage with Japan’s Kobe Shinwa Women’s University and Taiwan’s Taipei King Whales joining the fray.

“New Taipei is a strong team while Kobe Shinwa will be a force to be reckoned with,” said tournament director Tony Boy Liao at the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Forum on Tuesday, June 28.

The top six will then hold a round robin competition before the championship round. Barring any complications, the last possible day of the tournament will be on August 14.

The revamped Cignal HD Spikers go up against the Army Black Mamba Lady Troopers on opening day at 2:30 pm. Meanwhile, the Choco Mucho Flying Titans square off against fellow contenders Chery Tiggo Crossovers at the 5:30 pm main event.

All games will be played at the FilOil Flying V Centre in San Juan except on July 23, when crowd favorites Creamline and Choco Mucho will be pitted against each other at the Mall of Asia Arena.

“We hope to sustain the momentum we gained in the Open Conference,” said Sports Vision president Ricky Palou during the forum.

“For the invitationals, we are spicing up things with the adding of two foreign teams. We are looking forward to another memorable season with them that, hopefully, our fans will enjoy.”

Completing the local team cast are the PLDT High Speed Hitters and Open Conference runners-up Petro Gazz Angels.

The BaliPure Water Defenders and multi-time Philippine Super Liga (PSL) titlists F2 Logistics Cargo Movers, meanwhile, opted out of the invitationals. – Rappler.com