Laguna: Creamline seeks a qualifying-round berth against Farm Fresh on Tuesday in the Premier Volleyball League All-Filipino Conference at the Santa Rosa Sports Complex in Laguna. The Cool Smashers meet the resurgent Foxies at 6:30 p.m.
According to Philippines News Agency, Creamline failed to advance last Thursday after bowing to Akari, 21-25, 26-28, 25-17, 21-25, sliding to a 5-2 record and throwing the battle for the last two qualifying spots wide open. PLDT and Cignal have already secured their places in the Qualifying Round, but the remaining two slots are still up for grabs in a tightly packed race involving Creamline, Nxled, Akari, and Farm Fresh.
Nxled ranks fourth with a 4-4 record but has only one game left. Akari is close behind at 4-3, while Farm Fresh remains in contention at 3-4 with two matches still to play. After Farm Fresh, Creamline will face Cignal on Saturday to close out the grueling preliminaries. Should the Cool Smashers stumble in their final two matches and two of the chasing teams finish at 5-4, a tiebreaker scenario could determine which squads secure the last two qualifying-round berths. That possibility only heightens the pressure as the race intensifies entering the final stretch of the prelims phase.
Teams finishing from No. 5 to No. 10 will drop to the Play-In stage, where they will be divided into two groups. The two group winners will then challenge the losers of the crossover matches among the Top Four for the final semifinal spots. Jema Galanza, Tots Carlos, Bernadeth Pons, Michele Gumabao, Pangs Panga, and Bea de Leon are expected to lead Creamline's bid to bounce back from back-to-back losses.
Farm Fresh, on the other hand, will rely on Trisha Tubu, the conference's second-leading scorer, with setter Alohi Robins-Hardy orchestrating the offense alongside veterans Ces Molina, Royse Tubino, Mylene Paat, Ara Galang, and Riri Meneses. Meanwhile, Akari aims to extend its remarkable turnaround when it battles struggling Galerie Tower in the 4 p.m. opener. The Chargers are favored against the Highrisers, who have dropped their last three games after an earlier upset of the Nxled Chameleons.
