THE Nxled Chameleons and the Akari Chargers aim to keep their semifinals bid alive. But they respectively need to overcome the Galeries Tower Highrisers and the Choco Mucho Flying Titans in the play-in round of the 2026 Premier Volleyball League (PVL) All-Filipino Conference on Saturday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium in Malate, Manila.
Fifth-seed Nxled and sixth-seed Akari benefited from an eight-day hiatus after the preliminary round, bypassing the knockout round play-in clashes required for lower-ranked teams.
On Saturday, Nxled takes on Galeries Tower, which won its match over the Bella Belen-led Capital 1 Solar Spikers to stay alive.
Galeries finished ninth in the standings and refused to back down in the fight as Class of 2025 No. 2 overall pick Julia Coronel made 22 excellent sets.
Coronel’s superb playmaking allowed four Highrisers to score in double figures with Jean Asis, Gayle Pascual, Aiza Pontillas, and Roselle Baliton making 17, 14, 12, and 11 points, respectively. “I think it’s also a testament to how our team character has improved from the games we lost. We really took those losses as lessons, especially since we’re experiencing all of this as a team for the first time. We had to go through that to prepare us for moments like this,” Coronel said after the match.
The well-rested Nxled side, led by three-time Most Valuable Player Brooke Van Sickle, three-time Finals MVP MJ Phillips, and Myla Pablo, came from an upset win against the No.1 seed PLDT High Speed Hitters in the preliminary round.
“I’m really happy about what I saw during the game. I see consistency, I see regularity. I saw a very good development in our side-out. The block and defense is working great,” Nxled’s Italian coach Ettore Guidetti said.
At 6:30 p.m., Akari needs to overcome the fan-favorite Choco Mucho side to advance in the last phase of the play-in round.
The Chargers will continue to lean on Ivy Lacsina, Grethcel Soltones and Fifi Sharma who propelled the team to a sixth place finish in the preliminary round.
However, the Flying Titans got a triple-trouble gunners with scoring-machine Sisi Rondina, Eya Laure, and Maddie Madayag, proving how they can be explosive after defeating ZUS Coffee in five sets last Tuesday in the play-in round.