PLDT, Creamline and Chery Tiggo aim to solidify their positions in the Pool A top three, while Farm Fresh seeks to break into the elite circle through the backdoor as the first round of the Premier Volleyball League Reinforced Conference preliminaries concludes today at the Philsports Arena.

The High Speed Hitters are determined to rebound from a tough five-set loss to the surging Crossovers last weekend, which snapped their three-match winning streak and spoiled coach Rald Ricafort’s sweep bid.

However, PLDT will face a Farm Fresh team at 1 p.m. pushing for a straight-set victory and a potential spot in the top three.

The Foxies hold a 2-2 record, a game behind joint first placers Cool Smashers, High Speed Hitters and Crossovers, all holding a 3-1 slates.

But for the Foxies to force a tie for the top three, they need to win in three sets and hope that the Crossovers lose to Galeries Tower, also in three sets, in their 5 p.m. encounter. Both teams would then end up with 3-2 cards and identical eight total points, with ties to be broken by points ratio.

The top three teams will play the bottom three in Pool B in the crossover round starting Saturday.

Creamline and PLDT, with 10 and nine points respectively, are assured of top three spots even if they lose their respective matches. This puts the spotlight on the clash between the High Speed Hitters and the Foxies.

“PLDT is a very good team both on offense and defense, so we need to perfectly execute our Japanese system and focus more on our defense,” said Farm Fresh coach Shota Sato through an interpreter.

After dropping its first two matches, Farm Fresh prevailed over Galeries Tower and Nxled to remain within the top three range in Pool A.

The Cool Smashers, on the other hand, aim to extend their winning streak to four after a five-set conference opening defeat to the High Speed Hitters as they mix it up with the struggling Chameleons at 3 p.m.

Meanwhile, the Crossovers are poised to secure a top three spot as it takes on the last-place Highrisers at 5 p.m.

Despite Galeries Tower’s current standing, Chery Tiggo is not taking its foes for granted as coach Kungfu Reyes’ troops remain confident, especially after a morale-boosting five-set victory over PLDT with American import Khat Bell’s 39-point showing.

“Our win against PLDT gave us good momentum, and we hope to finish the first round in the top two of our pool,” said Reyes.