THE inaugural professional season of the Premier Volleyball League (PVL) takes flight on Saturday, July 17, in a “bubble” setting in Ilocos Norte.
The PVL Open Conference will see 10 teams competing, with games to be initially played at the PCV Socio-Civic Cultural Center in Bacarra.
The popular volleyball league is now operating as a pro organization after years as a semi-pro.
It turned professional last year but is only starting its season now after finally getting the nod to start from the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) and finding a local government unit in Ilocos Norte to serve as host for its tournament.
Ricky Palou, PVL president, said as they start their new season, important for them is to ensure the safety of all participants amid the prevailing conditions with the pandemic.
Opening the tournament is the match between the Chery Tiggo Crossover and PLDT Home Fibr Hitters at 1 p.m., followed by the BanKo Perlas Spikers and Cignal HD Spikers at 4 p.m.
The Creamline Cool Smashers and the Sta. Lucia Lady Realtors play in the night cap at 7 p.m.
Tournament format has all the teams playing in a single-round elimination with the top four teams advancing to the best-of-three semifinals, where the winners advance to the championship series and the losers collide in the battle for third.
Other teams seeing action in the PVL Open Conference are the BaliPure Purest Water Defenders, Choco Mucho Flying Titans, Petro Gazz Angels, and Philippine Army Lady Troopers.
PVL matches can be seen over One Sports on free TV, One Sports+, the league’s website at www.pvl.ph as well as on Cignal Play and Smart’s giga.fest. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo
