FOUR teams' fate lies in one match as Creamline, PLDT, Chery Tiggo and Petro Gazz will do whatever it takes to clinch a semifinal spot in the Premier Volleyball League (PVL) 2024 Reinforced Conference at the FilOil EcoOil Center in San Juan City on Tuesday.
The 2019 Reinforced Conference finals rivals Creamline and Petro Gazz are expected to have intense action in the knockout quarterfinal match at 6 p.m.
The No. 3 seed Creamline (6-2) hopes to change the story of their previous meet and eliminate the two-time Reinforced Conference champion Petro Gazz (5-3).
In Round 2 of the preliminaries, the Angels prevailed over the Cool Smashers in a grueling five-set match, 25-23, 25-19, 20-25, 23-25, 15-12, last August 13.
The Angels relied on the duo of Brooke Van Sickle and Wilma Salas, who fired 34 and 24 points, respectively.
Creamline's American import Erica Staunton, wingers Bernadette Pons, and Michelle Gumabao proved to be lethal after scoring 30, 17, and 13 points each in a loss over the Angels.
Being undermanned this tournament as Alyssa Valdez and Tots Carlos were sidelined due to their minor injuries, while Jema Galanza still has Alas Pilipinas duties, the pink squad was slightly short on their offense as the breaks of the game favored Petro Gazz in their last meet.
Knowing what Creamline is capable of, Petro Gazz head coach Koji Tsuzurabara shared that they have more work to do as his squad is going against the eight-time PVL queens.
"Oh Creamline, I am very excited, maybe I can't sleep before our game. It will be a very good match, but we are challengers, they are the queens, we are challengers," Tsuzurabara told the press after a straight-set win over Chery Tiggo.
For Creamline's team captain Gumabao, it all starts with their team's training in order to advance to the next round.
"Of course we are Creamline, teams play better when they go against us and we take it as a challenge. For us, it all starts with training, we should really train, and listen to our coaches to have better movement during our games," Gumabao said.
The PVL will start at 4 p.m., with PLDT and Chery Tiggo's clash.
PLDT (6-2) looks to diffuse Chery Tiggo's bomb Khat Bell who led her squad into five wins in the preliminaries.
Russian spiker Lena Samoilenko will go against the American hitter Bell in a must-win match.
Chery Tiggo will try to activate its middle blocker Aby Maraño and winger Ara Galang, to match up with PLDT's Mika Reyes and Kiesha Bedonia.
Games Tuesday: 4 p.m. PLDT vs Chery, 6 p.m. Creamline vs Petro Gazz