PLDT aims to stay in the finals hunt while Kurashiki Ablaze of Japan seeks an outright championship berth as the two collide today (July 27) in the Premier Volleyball League Invitational Conference at the PhilSports Arena.
It will be a do-or-die game for the High Speed Hitters, who own a 2-2 semis record, while the Japanese, unbeaten in three outings, would zoom straight to the one-game finale if they could win just a set their 4 p.m. duel with the former.
“We were happy to build momentum from our win over Vietnam,” said PLDT coach Rald Ricafort referring to the team’s 25-23, 25-14, 25-23 win over Kinh Bac-Bac Ninh Monday.
For PLDT to advance it has to win via straight sets over Kurashiki and hopes the latter ended up dropping another three-setter to Creamline the next day.
The Japanese club, in contrast, would need just to win one set to claim the second and last finals spot and arrange a knockout title duel with defending champion Creamline, who claimed the first spot after a 4-0 semis start.
That’s why Ricafort is just thinking of the positives that they would gain playing a tough Kurashiki side.
PLDT’s multi-titled libero Kath Arado, for her part, is bracing for a tough match against Kurashiki.
“When I played a Japanese team before, I think it was last year, what I remembered most about them was their discipline,” said Ms. Arado.
Truly, the Japanese were all business in winning their first three games against the Vietnamese, Cignal HD Spikers and the F2 Logistics Cargo Movers to move on the cusp of barging into the finals.
Meanwhile, Cignal (1-3) and Kinh Bac-Bac Ninh (0-3) clash at 6:30 p.m. with an eye of having a chance at clinching third place at most.