The Premier Volleyball League has a lot in store for Filipino volleyball fans, and at the forefront is the much-anticipated Rookie Draft, scheduled to commence this coming June.
For the first time in league history, the country’s premier women’s volleyball league is set to conduct its annual draft right after the All-Filipino Conference.
PVL Commissioner Sherwin Malonzo mentioned that the league is still finalizing details. The PVL may hold a draft lottery for the bottom four teams of the season-opening conference to determine the order.
Meanwhile, the rest will be based on their standings.
“Ang draft, tuloy na. Ang challenge now is ang gusto ng mga boss is isama (yung) dalawang conferences ang basehan. But some teams, isang conference pa lang maglalaro, or isang conference pa lang nalaro,” said Malonzo.
He went on, “We’ll just create a formula based on that. Then, siguro para sneak peek, we’re also considering a lottery sa bottom four. So not because yung bad ranking mo eh nag-number 12 ka, automatic first (pick) ka, hindi. Yung bottom four may lottery sila, although si number 12 will get a better chance of getting the first pick.”
“So pwedeng yung pang-number nine, siya ang first pick. But yun nga, like I said, yung percentage of chance mas mataas kay 12 as compared kay 11, 10, and nine,” he explained.
Malonzo said that players looking to apply must be at least 21 years old on the day of the draft, but he reiterated that nothing is final yet. The league’s brass, along with the member teams, will meet first before coming up with a final decision.
“For the local players – kasi we haven’t presented everything to the teams – but the basic eligibility rule for you to qualify for the draft, you have to be 21 years old on the day of the drafting,” he said.
“Regardless, kung nag-college lang kayo, high school lang kayo, or out-of-school youth – basta 21 years old. Age lang ang batayan sa ngayon, but we’re still furnishing the details of the draft, yung regulations ng draft, which will be presented to the team also.”
Aside from the Rookie Draft, Malonzo said that the PVL will finally introduce the green card system to help promote fair play.
The league will also revert to the previous technical timeout system used by the PVL during the 8th and 16th points of the set, lasting for one minute each.
Players will also be once again forbidden to return to the bench during a challenge.
“For this coming conference, we’re bringing back the eight and 16 technical timeouts. One minute each. Tapos we’ll be bringing back the two timeouts, regular timeouts na 30 seconds,” said Malonzo.
“But the video challenge, no more ano… Players need to stay on the court. So coaches cannot talk to the players anymore during a video challenge,” he continued.
“Then, change of sets will remain. After the second set, doon pa lang magche-change court. So pagka-change court ng third and fourth, stay ulit kayo. Then on the fifth set, may change court ulit tayo on the eighth point. Yun, babalik natin yung change court ng fifth set.”
As for the format of the All-Filipino Conference, teams will play in a single round-robin format in the elimination round with the top four teams advancing to the round-robin semifinals.
The top two squads from the Final Four will move on to the best-of-three finals. If there is a tie for the second seed in the semis, a playoff will transpire to determine the team advancing to the finals.
On the other hand, the bottom two teams of the semis will compete for the bronze medal, with the series duration depending on the length of the finals.
“Our format this conference is gonna be a single round-robin for the elimination round. Come the semifinal round, it’s still a single round (robin) among the top four teams of the preliminary round. Then in the event na may tie sa second place, there will be a playoff match. So after the three games niyo sa semifinals, in case of a tie for second, we have a playoff match,” said Malonzo.
“The finals, the top two teams of the semifinals will play for the gold, and then the third and fourth will play for the bronze medal. No playoff sa elimination just to make it clear, it’s gonna be purely based on the FIVB system of classification.”
