Banko-Perlas will bring a winning feeling when it faces second seed PayMaya while Pocari-Air Force gears up against a well-rested and hungry Creamline side when the Premier Volleyball League Season 2 Reinforced Conference Final Four is fired off Sunday, July 1 at the Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan.
The Perlas Spikers are riding the crest of their five-game sweep of the tough quarterfinals round, capping their romp with a shutout win over erstwhile contender PetroGazz Angels that likewise gave the Lady Warriors a free ride to the semis of the season-opening conference of the league organized by Sports Vision.
Another thing going for BanKo-Perlas is that it will be taking on a team which it edged in five in the eliminations although experts maintain the semis is an entirely different phase where each team pays no heed to seedings, stats and the likes.
That makes the upcoming pair of best-of-three series an anybody’s game although experience-wise, Pocari tops the batch with a championship and a runner-up feat in last year’s inaugurals of the league backed by Mikasa and Asics.a
But the defending champions will be in a tough, rough outing against the Cool Smashers, whose pair of third-place efforts in the Reinforced and Open Conferences last year only made them hungrier and fiercer with top gun Alyssa Valdez also raring to nail a first-ever PVL championship.
Creamline’s bid then was stymied by Valdez’s commitment to the national team, forcing her to skip some crucial games in the league. But this time, the former Ateneo hotshot made sure she would be in command the entire series come hell or high water.
But the series, for sure, will be a question of imports although all four teams boast of talented local players—ocari’s Myla Pablo, BanKo-Perlas’ Nicole Tiamzon, PayMaya’s Aiko Urdas and Valdez, among others—ready to seize the moment on each set, on each game.
Creamline, led by reinforcements Kuttika Kaewpin and Nikolina Asceric, tangles with Pocari-Air Force, spearheaded by Arielle Love and Madeline Palmer, at 1:45 p.m. while BanKo-Perlas, powered by Lakia Bright and Jutarat Montripila, collides with PayMaya, headed by Tess Rountree and Shelby Sullivan, at 3:45 p.m.
In a short series, all four will surely be going flat out for the victory for a closer shot at the finals, thus making each serve, set and spike and play doubly important. Errors are inevitable but the team that could quickly adjust to each situation and recover from each miscue should gain the upper-hand in a tight, down-to-the-wire finish.
Meanwhile, Cignal and PLDT also brace for their own Final Four clash in the men’s division with newcomer Vice Co and Air Force squaring off in the other best-of-three pairing in what promises to be an explosive Sunday thriller.