Games Thursday
(PhilSports Arena, Pasig City)
4 p.m. – Zhetysu VC vs PLDT
7 p.m. – Creamline vs Nakhon Ratchasima
By MARK REY MONTEJO
It’s either win or go home for the local clubs as Creamline and PLDT battle formidable squads at the start of the quarterfinal round of the 2025 AVC Women’s Volleyball Champions League on Thursday, April 24, at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.
Still smarting from a three-set loss to Kazakhstan’s Zhetysu in their final Pool A match, the Cool Smashers hope to recover in time for their 7 p.m. showdown against Group D leader Thailand’s Nakhon Rachasima Qmin C.
Raising the curtain for the quarters action is the 4 p.m. duel etween the High Speed Hitters and Kazakh-based Zhetysu.
Creamline and PLDT need to come up with extraordinary efforts in the hopes of turning the tables on their rivals who are both considered dangerous.
Newly-crowned Premier Volleyball League (PVL) All-Filipino Conference champion Petro Gazz will have the same goal when it takes on the still undefeated Beijing Baic Motor on Friday, April 25.
Russian reinforcements Anastasiya Kudryashova and Anastassiya Kolomoyets should double, if not triple their productions if they are to help Creamline’s cause.
And so are local players like Jema Galanza, Bernadette Pons, Jeannette Panaga and Alyssa Valdez, who will be up against former Ateneo teammate and now Nakhon’s manager and assistant coach Jang Bualee.
Apart from having dependable imports in Anyse Smith and Evangelia Chantava, Nakhon also boasts of power hotter Onuma Sittirak – considered as one of the Thai superstars.
PLDT, on the other hand, will be bannered by imports Savannah Davison and Wilma Salas along Filipina star Kianna Dy.
The Kazakhs, meantime, will have seasoned players in Karyna Denysova, Valeriya Yakutina and Tatyana Nikitina at their disposal.
