The2022 Premier Volleyball League Invitational Conference was the twelfth conference of thePremier Volleyball League, its third conference as a professional league, and the second conference of the 2022 season.
The tournament began on July 9, 2022. Originally slated for the July 2, the tournament was pushed back due to the requests of the club teams.[1]
This is the first (second for the formerSVL) conference of the league to commence an invitational conference. A total of eight teams will compete in this event, including one international team —KingWhale Taipei fromTaiwan. TheBaliPure Purest Water Defenders andF2 Logistics begged off from joining the conference.[2] A second guest team, Kobe Shinwa University, was supposed to join the semi-final round but backed out at the last minute.[2] Replacement guest Philippine National Team, composed mostly of NU Lady Bulldogs team members, also backed out.[3]
On August 6, the league announced that thePhilippines women's national team will replace Kobe Shinwa Women's University due toCOVID-19 concerns in Japan, the national team is eligible to vie for the championship.[3]
A day after the announcement of the supposed entrance of the Philippine national team into the tournament, the team begged off due to concerns of possible injuries that the players may sustain. The final round will only consist of five teams (top 4 local clubs, 1 guest club).[4][5] The team's core was composed of player and staff from theNational University (NU) Lady Bulldogs. NU players and staff were released from the national team program by thePhilippine National Volleyball Federation shortly after their withdrawal.[6] The team was due to participate in the2022 Asian Women's Volleyball Cup and the new core of the squad is planned to compose the best finishing non-guest team in the conference.[5][7]
The preliminary games will start atFiloil Flying V Center, beginning the conference with live spectators. All of the elimination playdates will be held there, with the exemption of the match between Army Black Mamba and PLDT, and Creamline and Choco Mucho that will held at theSM Mall of Asia Arena, and matches between Petro Gazz and Chery Tiggo, and Cignal and Creamline that will take place inSanta Rosa Sports Complex.[8][9] After the preliminaries, the semifinals will be held atYnares Center, MOA Arena and Filoil Flying V Center, with most of the games will take place at the latter. The finals will be held at the MOA Arena.[10][11]
In spite of that, Creamline will represent the country since they accepted the federation's invitation to suit up in the national team as they emerged as the champions of the invitational conference.[25]
Emilio Reyes Jr.
Teng Yen-Min
