PLDT presses bid for podium

MANILA, Philippines — PLDT pushes harder in its bid for a breakthrough podium finish as it tackles dangerous Choco Mucho in today’s start of the PVL All-Filipino Conference quarterfinals at the PhilSports Arena.

The High Speed Hitters and the Flying Titans set up a best-of-three showdown after dumping the ZUS Thunderbelles and the Chery Tiggo Crossovers in their respective qualification matches.

Gametime is at 6:30 p.m.

Game 2 is scheduled Thursday with a deciding Game 3, if necessary, is set at a still unspecified play date later this month.

And expect PLDT to go at it in full throttle and gain the early upperhand in the race to the semis where it hopes to finally nail what had eluded the franchise since rejoining the pro league four years ago – a medal finish.

“We’re taking it one game at a time and we’re concentrating only on this particular game,” said PLDT coach Rald Ricafort.

PLDT’s best finish in the PVL was fourth, which it accomplished thrice, the last in the Reinforced Conference a year back.

In contrast, Choco Mucho had made finals twice but ended up short after losing to sister squad Creamline in the 2023 and 2024 All-Filipino Conferences.

In a duel between league underdogs, Galeries Tower and Akari collide in another quarters matchup at 4 p.m.