The 2025 Premier Volleyball League Invitational Conference was the 21st conference of the Premier Volleyball League and the second conference and third tournament of the 2024–25 season. The fourth Invitational Conference runs from August 21 to 31, 2025 and featured five of the league's local teams alongside one foreign guest team. The tournament was initially set to start on August 19, two days before its current schedule.[1]
The PLDT High Speed Hitters won the conference after beating the guest team Kobe Shinwa University in the championship match in four sets, giving them back-to-back gold medals following their preseason triumph.[2] The Creamline Cool Smashers swept the Chery Tiggo Crossovers in the 3rd medal match to complete the podium and retain their streak of nineteen consecutive podium finishes.[3]
Qualification
The 2025 Invitational Conference follows the same format as the 2024 edition. It is a smaller-scale tournament where only a selection of teams will qualify based on performance from the previous conference.[4][5]
Four slots were allocated for the semifinalists of the 2025 PVL on Tour. These were Chery Tiggo Crossovers, Cignal HD Spikers, Creamline Cool Smashers, and PLDT High Speed Hitters. As part of the Invitational Conference, the league invited two foreign guest teams to compete. The Kurashiki Ablaze and Kobe Shinwa University, both from Japan, were announced to compete on August 13. Kobe Shinwa will make their debut after backing out of the 2022 edition.[6]
On August 21, it was announced that Kurashiki, which would have made their third consecutive Invitational appearance, will no longer compete due to a "serious compliance violation" by head coach Hideo Suzuki. An invitation was first sent to the Farm Fresh Foxies, but the team instead gave the invitation to the Zus Coffee Thunderbelles, which accepted it.[7]
Participating teams
Venues
Transactions
National team players
The following players are part of the Philippines women's national team pool that were training and scheduled to play in several events in the 2025 national team season. They were therefore excluded from the conference.[9] On August 18, these players were allowed to report back to their respective clubs but they can only play in the Reinforced Conference and not this tournament.[10]
Additionally two players filed a leave of absence to train for the national beach volleyball team for the 2025 SEA Games.[11][12]
The following format is being conducted for the entirety of the conference:
- Preliminary round
- The preliminary round is a single round-robin tournament, with each team playing one match against all other teams for a total of five matches. Teams are ranked using the FIVB Ranking System.
- Results from the 2025 PVL on Tour semifinals were carried over.[13] Because of this, the four semifinalists will not play against their respective opponents from the conference and will only play four matches.
- The top two teams will advance to the championship match while teams ranked third and fourth will play in the third-place match.
- Teams ranked fifth and sixth will be eliminated and be ranked accordingly in the final standings.
- Finals
- Both the championship (gold medal) and third-place (bronze medal) matches will be singular matches.
- The match-ups will be as follows:
- Championship match: 1st ranked team vs. 2nd ranked team
- Third-place match: 3rd ranked team vs. 4th 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
Standings
Match results
Final round
3rd place match
Championship match
Final standings
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|
| Team roster
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| Kath Arado (c), Maria Nieza Viray, Shiela Mae Kiseo, Mika Reyes, Alleiah Jan Lina Malaluan, Savi Davison, Zenneth Irene Perolino, Kim Fajardo, Majoy Baron, Kim Kianna Dy, Dell Palomata, Anne Esguerra, Keisha Dazzie Bedonia, Angelica Legacion, Angelica Alcantara, Jessey Laine de Leon, Jovie Prado
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| Head coach
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| Rald Ricafort
|
|
Awards and medalists
Medalists
| Gold
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Silver
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Bronze
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| PLDT High Speed Hitters
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Kobe Shinwa University
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- Sukura Furuta (c)
- Kana himoto
- Rino Hirami (L)
- Arisu Ishikawa (L)
- Nagisa Komatsuda
- Sakura Matsuo
- Reira Miyazaki
- Mei Morihara
- Shion Muku
- Saki Nishihori
- Minami Oka
- Mei Takahashi
- Sara Yamada
- Yuia Yamano
- Miyu Yano
- Kokoro Yasuma
- Hana Yoshihara
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Creamline Cool Smashers
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| Head coach: Rald Ricafort
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Head coach: Kiyokazu Yamamoto
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Head coach: Sherwin Meneses
|
References
- ^ Garcia, John Mark (August 1, 2025). "PVL Invitationals set to start two days after On Tour final". Spin.ph. Retrieved August 1, 2025.
- ^ Villar, Joey (August 31, 2025). "PLDT edges Kobe Shinwa to rule PVL Invitational". Philstar.com. Retrieved August 31, 2025.
- ^ Morales, Luisa (August 31, 2025). "Creamline secures 19th straight podium finish in PVL but far from done, says Michele Gumabao". onesports.ph. Retrieved August 31, 2025.
- ^ "PVL on Tour takes Pre-season nationwide". June 4, 2025. Retrieved June 16, 2025.
- ^ "PVL on Tour kicks off in Vigan, Ilocos Sur, brings big-league volleyball to provinces". Tiebreaker Times. June 18, 2025. Retrieved June 18, 2025.
- ^ Demigillo, Kiko (August 13, 2025). "Japanese teams Kurashiki, Kobe Shinwa set to spice up 2025 PVL Invitational Conference". onesports.ph. Retrieved August 13, 2025.
- ^ Dannug, Jonash (August 21, 2025). "Kurashiki exits PVL Invitational as Hideo Suzuki faces V.League compliance violation". Tiebreaker Times. Retrieved August 21, 2025.
- ^ a b Garcia, John Mark (August 23, 2025). "Kobe Shinwa blanks ZUS Coffee in PH volleyball return". Sports Interactive Network Philippines. Retrieved August 23, 2025.
- ^ Garcia, John Mark (June 19, 2025). "Alas Pilipinas players to miss PVL action until mid-October". Sports Interactive Network Philippines. Retrieved June 25, 2025.
- ^ "Alas spikers cleared to rejoin PVL mother teams". The Philippine Star. August 18, 2025. Retrieved August 20, 2025.
- ^ "PVL: Choco Mucho's Sisi Rondina's extensive efforts with team statistician pay off". ABS-CBN Sports. April 13, 2025. Retrieved December 25, 2025.
- ^ Villar, Joey (December 24, 2025). "De Guzman, Pons, Rondina back with PVL teams after SEA Games stint". The Philippine Star. Retrieved December 25, 2025.
- ^ "PLDT, Chery Tiggo renew rivalry as PVL Invitational unwraps". www.pvl.ph. August 20, 2025. Retrieved August 20, 2025.
- ^ "Davison claims first MVP trophy after all-around brilliance". Retrieved August 31, 2025.
- ^ Demigillo, Kiko (August 31, 2025). "Kath Arado admits surprise at being first libero to be named PVL Finals MVP". One Sports. Retrieved September 3, 2025.