Philippine volleyball soared to greater heights in the year 2023.
Record-breaking feats, historic firsts and memorable moments were made in what could be the sports’ most fruitful year in the local scene in over a decade.
But the spotlight belonged to the Premier Volleyball League with its banner season.
Three successful conferences capped by an epic season-ending finals match between powerhouse teams Creamline and Choco Mucho witnessed by a record crowd highlighted the success of the country’s first and only women’s professional volleyball league.
“Everybody’s happy. The volleyball fans are very happy with the great games that we had. We owe it also to the teams that really worked hard to form strong and competitive teams. The competition we’re really great,” PVL president Ricky Palou told DAILY TRIBUNE.
The PVL rode the momentum of its first full calendar in 2022 in the league’s remarkable resurgence from the pandemic with the staging of the inaugural All-Filipino Conference — a rebrand from the all-local Open Conference.
Creamline barely felt the absence of skipper Alyssa Valdez, who suffered a right knee injury in the 2022 Reinforced Conference battle for third, as it made its way back into another finals stint after downing F2 Logistics in the semifinals.
TOTS Carlos lends a hand to Creamline’s success in 2023. | PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF PVL
The Cool Smashers set up a collision course with a familiar foe in Petro Gazz, which returned to the championship round after ruling the import-laden tournament to end the 2022 season.
In a shocking turn of events, fancied Creamline folded in four sets in the series opener. The Cool Smashers weathered the storm in a thrilling Game 2 to force a rubber match before completing a come-from-behind series win for their fifth title overall.
The PVL suffered a big blow months before the mid-season Invitational Conference when the Philippine National Volleyball Federation sanctioned the league citing that it “scheduled its season and conferences coinciding with the stipulated National Team season and without due and express authorization.”
PNVF’s action forced the league to suspend its staging of the Reinforced Conference temporarily and instead held a second All-Filipino Conference for the season-ending competition.
Still, the PVL pushed through with the Invitational Conference where three new teams — Gerflor, Farm Fresh and Foton — joined the field.
Guest teams Kurashiki Ablaze of Japan and Kinh Bac Bac Ninh of Vietnam tested their mettle against four local clubs in the semifinals. Kurashiki went undefeated to challenge the defending champions Cool Smashers.
Bringing their Japanese brand of play, the Japan V.League third division club overcame Creamline backed by a partisan home crowd in a winner-take-all five-set.
The 2nd All-Filipino Conference saw the league expand to a record 12 teams with the arrival of Nxled and Galeries Tower.
Creamline swept the elimination round before demolishing Chery Tiggo in the best-of-three semifinals.
Choco Mucho, on the other hand, went through the wringer outlasting Cignal in three games to set up a much-awaited dream finals duel against its sister-team.
As expected the much hyped-up championship series drew large crowds and interest from avid volleyball fans.
History unfolded in Game 2 when a crowd of 24,459 never before seen in Philippine volleyball packed the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
It was the game of the decade when the match went into five sets in favor of the Cool Smashers, who completed a clean sweep of the conference.
“We’re very surprised. We never realized that it would be this big and this popular. You could just imagine what we’re feeling right now,” Palou said of the finale.
Philippine volleyball flourished in 2023.
And expect PVL to exceed what it achieved in 2024.
