The 2024 Premier Volleyball League Invitational Conference was the third conference of the 2024–25 Premier Volleyball League season. Unlike the previous iterations of the league, this conference was a short pocket tournament, lasting about nine days, making it the shortest conference in the league. The conference started on September 4, 2024, coinciding with the finals of the 2024 Premier Volleyball League Reinforced Conference.
Originally, the semifinalists of the 2024 Premier Volleyball League Reinforced Conference are qualified and will be able to play alongside two foreign guest teams — the reigning Invitational champions, Kurashiki Ablaze of Japan, and the newcomers, Est Cola of Thailand. But due to players' injuries, the PLDT High Speed Hitters and the Akari Chargers begged off from participation. The Farm Fresh Foxies will be the sole replacement as the other PVL teams declined to join.
Qualification The Invitational Conference is a pocket tournament and only the top four among the twelve Premier Volleyball League teams in the previous tournament (the 2024 Reinforced Conference) are qualified to participate along with two foreign-based guest teams.
The PLDT High Speed Hitters qualified as semifinalists but withdrew due to injuries from the past conference. It will be the eight placers Farm Fresh Foxies replaced PLDT after the next three ranked teams Chery Tiggo, Petro Gazz and Capital1 declined the PVL's invite. Akari Chargers also pulled out from the conference citing the same reason with PLDT. Akari were not replaced, making the participants down to five teams. This will be the conference with the least number of teams joining.
Two guest teams are Kurashiki Ablaze, the defending Invitational champions, and newcomer Est Cola will join the three local club teams to compete in this conference.
Qualification methodDate Berths Qualifier(s)2024 PVL Reinforced Conference semifinalists August 24 and 27, 2024 (Quarterfinals) 42 Creamline Cool Smashers Akari Chargers (withdrew) Cignal HD Spikers PLDT High Speed Hitters (withdrew)Invited PVL teams September 2, 2024 (announced) 01 Chery Tiggo Crossovers (declined)Petro Gazz Angels (declined)Capital1 Solar Spikers (declined)Farm Fresh FoxiesForeign guest teams August 30–31, 2024 (announced) 2 Est Cola (Thailand)Kurashiki Ablaze (Japan)
Participating teams
Abbr. Team Affiliation Head coach Team captain CHD Cignal HD Spikers Cignal TV, Inc. Shaq Delos Santos Frances Molina CCS Creamline Cool Smashers Republic Biscuit Corporation Sherwin Meneses Michele Gumabao (interim) FFF Farm Fresh Foxies Farm Fresh Philippine International / Strong Group Athletics Shota Sato Louie Romero EST Est Cola Sermsuk Public Co. Ltd. / Thailand U20 Wanna Buakaew Kanokporn Sangthong KUR Kurashiki Ablaze Ablaze Co., Ltd. / V.League (Japan) Hideo Suzuki Saya Taniguchi
Venues Regular venues Preliminaries Finals Pasay Pasig Quezon City SM Mall of Asia Arena PhilSports Arena Araneta Coliseum Capacity: 20,000 Capacity: 10,000 Capacity: 20,000
PVL on Tour venues Preliminaries Santa Rosa Santa Rosa Sports Complex Capacity: 5,700
Transactions National team players The following players are part of the Philippine national team that played at the 2024 AVC Women's Challenge Cup, 2024 FIVB Women's Volleyball Challenger Cup and the 2024 SEA Women's V.League. They are therefore excluded from the previous Reinforced Conference, and were expected to remain unavailable for the whole duration of the Invitational Conference. However on September 9 they were allowed to rejoin their clubs, after the national team played friendly matches with Saga Hisamitsu Springs on September 7 and 8.
Team Player/s Cignal HD Spikers Vanie Gandler Dawn Macandili-Catindig Creamline Cool Smashers Jema Galanza
Foreign guest players These foreign guest players participated in the reinforced conference. Each team is only allowed to have one foreign player and can only replace them mid-conference if they suffer from injuries or if the player (not the team) abandons their commitment. The teams also have the option to keep or replace their reinforcements to play in this conference.
Team Foreign player Moving from Cignal HD Spikers María José Pérez Alexandria Sporting Club Creamline Cool Smashers Erica Staunton Georgia Bulldogs Farm Fresh Foxies Asaka Tamaru Zus Coffee Thunderbelles
Format The following format will be conducted for the entirety of the conference: Preliminary Round Single round-robin format Teams are ranked using the FIVB Ranking System. The 3rd and 4th ranked teams will advance to the bronze medal match. The 1st and 2nd ranked teams will advance to the gold medal match.
Finals All games are knockout matches. Bronze medal: 3rd ranked team vs. 4th ranked team Gold medal: 1st ranked team vs. 2nd ranked team
Pool standing procedure First, teams are ranked by the number of matches won. If the number of matches won is tied, the tied teams are then ranked by match points, wherein: Match won 3–0 or 3–1: 3 match points for the winner, 0 match points for the loser. Match won 3–2: 2 match points for the winner, 1 match point for the loser. In case of any further ties, the following criteria shall be used: Set ratio: the number of sets won divided by number of sets lost. Point ratio: the number of points scored divided by the number of points allowed. Head-to-head standings: any remaining tied teams are ranked based on the results of head-to-head matches involving the teams in question.
Preliminary round All times are Philippine Standard Time (UTC+08:00).
Ranking
Match results
Final round All times are Philippine Standard Time (UTC+08:00).
3rd place match
Championship match
Final standing
Rank Team Creamline Cool Smashers Cignal HD Spikers Kurashiki Ablaze 4 Est Cola 5 Farm Fresh Foxies
Team roster Alyssa Valdez (c), Kyle Negrito, Floremel Rodriguez, Risa Sato, Jeanette Panaga, Michele Gumabao, Ella de Jesus, Lorie Bernardo, Pau Soriano, Kyla Atienza, Denden Lazaro-Revilla, Bea de Leon, Theo Bea Bonafe, Rizza Mandapat, Rosemarie Vargas, Jema Galanza, Bernadeth Pons, Mafe Galanza, Tots Carlos, Erica Staunton, Aleiah Torres Head coach Sherwin Meneses
Awards and medalists Awards
Award Player Team Conference Most Valuable Player Michele Gumabao Creamline Finals Most Valuable Player Kyle Negrito Creamline 1st Best Outside Spiker María José Pérez Cignal 2nd Best Outside Spiker Erica Staunton Creamline 1st Best Middle Blocker Jacqueline Acuña Cignal 2nd Best Middle Blocker Low Mei Cing Kurashiki Best Opposite Spiker Saya Taniguchi Kurashiki Best Setter Kyle Negrito Creamline Best Libero Kalyarat Khamwong Est Cola
Medalists GoldSilverBronzeCreamline Cool SmashersCignal HD SpikersKurashiki AblazeHead coach: Sherwin MenesesHead coach: Shaq Delos SantosHead coach: Hideo Suzuki
See also 2024 Spikers' Turf Invitational Conference
References