MANILA, Philippines – The Kurashiki Ablaze promised a better, stronger performance versus Cignal on Monday at the Philsports Arena in Pasig as part of a rare Premier Volleyball League Monday doubleheader that is expected to heat up the competition in the Invitational Conference semifinal round.

After overcoming an early challenge, the Japanese squad defeated the Vietnamese club Kinh Bac-Bac Ninh, 23 to 25, 25 to 14, 25 to 20, and 25 to 11, in the guest teams’ league debut late on Friday. The victory guarantees a more exciting matchup against the HD Spikers at 4 p.m. opener.

Tamaru Asaka actually broke out with a 28-point burst, all on attacks, giving the middles of the HD Spikers something to work on as they attempt to bounce back from a challenging five-set loss to the Creamline Cool Smashers the last time out.

Defending champion Kurashiki took a little break before ramping up their finals drive against the Vietnamese tomorrow (Tuesday), but Creamline’s 23 to 25, 25 to 16, 25 to 21, 24 to 25, and 15 to 10 victory placed them two full games up at 3 to 0.

Asaka really played down her impressive performance by claiming that she first found it difficult to deal with Kinh Bac-Bac Ninh’s excellent blocking.

Asics, SportRadar, BingoPlus, ArenaPlus, Mikasa, SMART, Rebisco, Kumu, and the league’s sponsors, SMART, Rebisco, Kumu, and SMART, all took notice of the massive fan support and expressed their excitement about playing in front of a large crowd at the mid-season conference of the league.

At the 6:30 p.m. matchup between the Vietnamese team and the PLDT High Speed Hitters, Kinh Bac-Bac Ninh also wants to bounce back and perform to its full capacity. 3-0 rout of the favored but worn-out F2 Logistics Cargo Movers, which occurred over the weekend, has given both teams plenty of confidence going into this match.

The High-Speed Hitters and PLDT coach Rald Ricafort should benefit from that shortened victory because it provided them more time to recuperate, even though planning was done in a hurry with only one day to spare.

However, Honey Royse Tubino is aiming to replicate or surpass her commendable 20-hit performance against F2, and players like Fiola Ceballos, Dell Palomata Mika Reyes, Erika Santos, and Rhea Dimaculgan can’t wait to duke it out with the Vietnamese.

When the High-Speed Hitters take on players like Huong Nguyen, skipper Oanh Nguyen, Xuan Le, Ngoc Nguyen, and Quynh Pham, they are expected to go all-out to square their record at 2 to 2. Top hitter Me-an Mendrez is also anticipated to suit up after missing the F2 match. Have they done so? Keep yourself posted and watch out for the next news on the PVL.