2015 Philippine Super Liga Grand Prix Conference

The 2015 Philippine Super Liga Grand Prix Conference was the sixth indoor volleyball conference of the Philippine Super Liga, the third and final conference of the 2015 season, and the seventh conference overall. The conference began on October 10, 2015, at the Alonte Sports Arena, in Biñan, Laguna.

2015 Philippine Super Liga Grand Prix Conference
Duration	October 10 – December 5, 2015
Teams	6
TV partner(s)	TV5, AksyonTV, Sports5.ph, Solar Sports
Results
Champions	Foton Tornadoes
Runners-up	Petron Blaze Spikers
Third place	Philips Gold Lady Slammers
Fourth place	Cignal HD Spikers
Awards
MVP	Lindsay Stalzer
Best OH	Ariel Elizabeth Usher Bojana Todorovic
Best MB	Alexis Olgard Jaja Santiago
Best OPP	Michele Gumabao Frances Molina
Best Setter	Ivy Perez Erica Adachi
Best Libero	Jennylyn Reyes
PSL Grand Prix Conference chronology
< 2014 2016 >
PSL conference chronology
< 2015 All-Filipino 2016 Invitational >
< 2015 BVCC

Stav Jacobi, FIVB Executive Council member and chief organizer of the FIVB World Women's Club Volleyball Championship, was the guest of honor for the opening ceremony,^[1] while Prajaya Chaiyakam, the deputy managing director of SMMTV, Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC)'s official TV partner, and his cameraman went to Cuneta Astrodome to witness Game 1 of the PSL Finals.^[2]

The tournament champion, the Foton Tornadoes, will represent the country in the 2016 AVC Women's Club Championship.^[3][4]

Video challenge system

The PSL became the third Southeast Asia-based volleyball club league (after Thailand and Vietnam) to utilize the video challenge system allowing teams to challenge and decide crucial calls during the games for a fair and balanced officiating, as part of the full compliance to the FIVB rules. The system, reportedly worth ₱3 million, courtesy of Italy-based Data Volley (composed of machine and 26 high-definition cameras to be beamed through a giant LED screen provided by Sports5 inside the venue) arrived on October 26, 2015 and used on October 27, 2015, during the second round of the tournament. Emmanuel Celle of the Data Volley spearheaded the project.^[5][6]

The video challenge was officially launched two days later with Cignal's coach Sammy Acaylar being the first to use the video challenge system, block touch during first set of their match against Foton. The system was available for the games held within the venues in Metro Manila and in the Spike on Tour event in Imus, Cavite.^[7]

Import controversy

On October, PVF President Edgardo "Boy" Cantada, condemned the act of the LVPI and Score (headed by Ramon Suzara, the president of PSL, and one of the masterminds in the withdrawal of recognition of PVF in the POC, AVC, and FIVB) over the incident involving 12 imports of the Philippine Super Liga Grand Prix who have gone through the immigration process and play in the league without any necessary working permits and other documents of foreigners who will work in the country. He also criticized LVPI and Suzara for blatant disregard and abuse of the Philippine immigration and labor laws over the incident.^[8]

Teams

2015 PSL Grand Prix Conference teams (Women's Division)
Abbr.	Team	Company	Colors	Head coach	Team captain	Imports
CIG	Cignal HD Spikers	Cignal TV, Inc.		Sammy Acaylar	Michelle Laborte (USLS)	Amanda Anderson Ariel Usher
FOT	Foton Tornadoes	United Asia Automotive Group, Inc.		Ma. Vilet Ponce de Leon	Ivy Elayne Remulla (DLSU)	Katie Messing Lindsay Stalzer
MER	MERALCO Power Spikers	Manila Electric Company		Ramil de Jesus	Charleen Abigail Cruz (DLSU)	Christina Alessi Liis Kullerkann
PET	Petron Blaze Spikers	Petron Corporation		George Pascua	Maica Morada (FEU)	Erica Adachi Rupia Inck Furtado
PHG	Philips Gold Lady Slammers	Federated Distributors, Inc.		Francis Vicente	Michele Gumabao (DLSU)	Alexis Olgard Bojana Todorovic
RCC	RC Cola Air Force Raiders	ARC Refreshments Corporation		Rhovyl Verayo	Judy Ann Caballejo (UST)	Sarah McClinton Lynda Morales

Format

Classification round

• The classification round was a double round-robin tournament, with each team playing two matches against all other teams in their pool for a total of ten matches.
• The top four teams advanced to the semifinals while the remaining teams were eliminated.

Semifinals

• The semifinals featured single-elimination matches.
• The match-ups were be as follows:
  • SF1: #1 vs. #4
  • SF2: #2 vs. #3
• The winners advanced to the championship while the losers would play in the third-place match.

Finals

• The championship was a best-of-three series while the third-place was single-elimination.
• The match-ups were as follows:
  • Championship: Semifinal round winners
  • Third-place match: Semifinal round losers

Classification round

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	Pts	SW	SL	SR	SPW	SPL	SPR	Qualification
1	Philips Gold Lady Slammers	10	8	2	22	27	14	1.929	930	865	1.075	Semifinals
2	Petron Blaze Spikers	10	7	3	21	26	15	1.733	923	831	1.111
3	Cignal HD Spikers	10	7	3	20	23	17	1.353	866	829	1.045
4	Foton Tornadoes	10	6	4	19	23	15	1.533	838	767	1.093
5	MERALCO Power Spikers	10	1	9	5	9	27	0.333	735	839	0.876	Fifth place match
6	RC Cola Air Force Raiders	10	1	9	3	9	29	0.310	747	908	0.823

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
10 October	13:00	CIG	3–2	PET	18–25	17–25	25–15	25–18	16–14	101–98	P2
10 October	15:00	MER	0–3	FOT	23–25	22–25	16–25	–	–	61–75	P2
13 October	16:15	PET	3–0	MER	25–15	25–14	25–19	–	–	75–48	P2
13 October	18:15	CIG	3–2	PHG	15–25	25–15	25–17	19–25	16–14	100–96	P2
15 October	16:15	RCC	3–2	MER	25–20	17–25	20–25	25–21	15–13	102–104	P2
15 October	18:15	PET	3–2	FOT	21–25	25–20	25–13	12–25	15–9	98–92	P2
17 October	13:00	CIG	3–0	MER	25–17	25–18	25–17	–	–	75–52	P2
17 October	15:00	PHG	3–2	PET	25–20	21–25	16–25	25–22	15–12	102–104	P2
20 October	16:15	RCC	1–3	PET	22–25	20–25	25–21	10–25	–	77–96	P2
20 October	18:15	MER	1–3	PHG	19–25	25–21	25–27	23–25	–	92–98	P2
22 October	16:15	PHG	3–2	RCC	23–25	20–25	25–21	25–21	15–8	108–100	P2
22 October	18:15	FOT	1–3	CIG	20–25	19–25	25–16	23–25	–	87–91	P2
25 October	13:15	RCC	1–3	CIG	19–25	26–24	23–25	17–25	–	85–99	P2
25 October	15:15	PHG	3–2	FOT	25–18	26–24	22–25	23–25	15–13	111–105	P2
27 October	16:15	FOT	3–0	RCC	25–14	25–13	25–16	–	–	75–43	P2
27 October	18:15	PET	3–2	CIG	25–16	14–25	25–17	22–25	15–13	101–96	P2
29 October	16:15	FOT	3–0	CIG	25–17	25–19	25–18	–	–	75–54	P2
29 October	18:15	RCC	1–3	PET	23–25	27–25	15–25	13–25	–	78–100	P2
5 November	16:00	PHG	1–3	FOT	13–25	22–25	25–18	18–25	–	78–93	P2
5 November	18:00	MER	0–3	PET	25–27	20–25	21–25	–	–	66–77	P2
7 November	13:00	MER	0–3	PHG	12–25	24–26	19–25	–	–	55–76	P2
7 November	15:00	CIG	3–1	RCC	25–19	20–25	25–10	25–19	–	95–73	P2
10 November	16:00	FOT	3–2	MER	25–18	18–25	14–25	25–16	15–8	97–92	P2
10 November	18:00	RCC	0–3	PHG	26–28	19–25	15–25	–	–	60–78	P2
12 November	16:00	PHG	3–0	CIG	25–22	25–14	25–23	–	–	75–59	P2
12 November	18:00	RCC	0–3	FOT	21–25	21–25	19–25	–	–	61–75	P2
14 November	13:00	PET	3–0	FOT	27–25	25–23	25–16	–	–	77–64	P2
14 November	15:00	MER	3–0	RCC	25–21	28–26	25–21	–	–	78–68	P2
16 November	16:00	PHG	3–1	PET	28–30	29–27	25–17	25–23	–	107–97	P2
16 November	18:00	CIG	3–1	MER	25–22	25–19	21–25	25–21	–	96–87	P2

Final round

	Semifinals (single-elimination)					Championship (best-of-three)
	1	Philips Gold	2
	4	Foton	3
						4	Foton	3	1	3
						2	Petron	1	3	0
	2	Petron	3
	3	Cignal	1

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Semifinals

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
19 November	16:00	PHG	2–3	FOT	18–25	24–26	25–18	25–20	8–15	100–104	P2
19 November	18:00	PET	3–1	CIG	25–20	26–24	20–25	25–13	–	96–82	P2

Finals

Fifth place match

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
21 November	15:00	MER	3–1	RCC	25–21	20–25	25–23	25–20	–	95–89	P2

Third place match

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
21 November	13:00	PHG	3–1	CIG	23–25	25–21	25–22	25–17	–	98–85	P2

Championship

November 26, 2015 16:00	Foton Tornadoes	3–1	Petron Blaze Spikers	Cuneta Astrodome Attendance: 1, 502 Referees: J. Hugo, L. Pajarillo
	(14–25, 25–21, 25–19, 25–22) Match Result P2 POG: #6 Lindsay Stalzer, with 23 attacks, 1 block and 1 service ace

November 30, 2015 16:00	Petron Blaze Spikers	3–1	Foton Tornadoes	Cuneta Astrodome Attendance: 5,020 Referees: J. Hugo, J. Villareal
	(25–13, 25–21, 23–25, 26–24) Match Result P2 POG: #2 Abigail Maraño, with 12 attacks, 3 blocks and 1 service ace

December 5, 2015 13:00	Foton Tornadoes	3–0	Petron Blaze Spikers	Cuneta Astrodome Attendance: 9,000 Referees: L. Benito, Jr., J. Hugo
	(25–18, 25–18, 25–17) Match Result P2 POG: #2 Katie Messing, with 12 attacks and 2 service aces

Final standing

Rank Team Foton Tornadoes Petron Blaze Spikers Philips Gold Lady Slammers 4 Cignal HD Spikers 5 MERALCO Power Spikers 6 RC Cola Air Force Raiders Qualified for the 2016 Asian Club Volleyball Championship

2015 Philippine Super Liga Grand Prix Conference Champions  Foton Tornadoes 1st title Team roster 1.) Angeli Araneta 2.) Katie Messing 3.) Alyja Daphne Santiago 4.) Patty Orendain 5.) Kara Acevedo 6.) Lindsay Stalzer 7.) Ivy Remulla (c) 8.) May Macatuno 9.) Ivy Perez 10.) Kayla Williams 11.) Bia General 16.) Royce Estampa 17.) Fiola Ceballos 18.) Jeannie delos Reyes Head coach: Ma. Vilet Ponce de Leon

Individual awards

Award		Name/Team
MVP		Lindsay Stalzer (Foton)
Best Outside Spiker	1st:	Ariel Elizabeth Usher (Cignal)
	2nd:	Bojana Todorovic (Philips Gold)
Best Middle Blocker	1st:	Alexis Olgard (Philips Gold)
	2nd:	Alyja Daphne Santiago (Foton)
Best Opposite Spiker	1st:	Michele Gumabao (Philips Gold)
	2nd:	Frances Xinia Molina (Petron)
Best Setter	1st:	Ivy Jizel Perez (Foton)
	2nd:	Erica Adachi (Petron)
Best Libero		Jennylyn Reyes (Petron)
Coach of the Year		George Pascua (Petron)

Skill set leaders

Skill		Name/Team
Spiking		Aleona Manabat
Setting		Ivy Perez
Serving		Aleona Manabat
Blocking		Abigail Marano
Receiving		Jennylyn Reyes
Digging		Jennylyn Reyes

Venues

Metro Manila venues

• Cuneta Astrodome (main venue)
• Filoil Flying V Arena (secondary venue)

PSL Spike on Tour venues

• Alonte Sports Arena (October 10 - opening day)
• Malolos Sports and Convention Center (November 7)
• De La Salle Lipa Sentrum (November 14)
• Imus City Sports Center (November 21)

Broadcast partners

• TV5, AksyonTV, Sports5.ph
• Solar Sports

Broadcast Notes:

Game	Sports5 coverage			Solar Sports coverage
	Play-by-play	Analyst	Courtside reporters	Play-by-play	Analyst
Battle for Third	James Velasquez	Tex Suter	Apple David	Noel Zarate	Shiela Salaysay
Battle for Fifth	Denise Tan	Chiqui Pablo	Apple David	Noel Zarate	Shiela Salaysay
Finals Game 1	James Velasquez	Tex Suter	Mich del Carmen and Carmela Tunay	unannounced	unannounced
Finals Game 2	James Velasquez	Denise Tan	Apple David and Carla Lizardo	Ronnie Magsanoc	Xavier Nunag
Finals Game 3	James Velasquez	Chiqui Pablo	Mich del Carmen and Carmela Tunay	Noel Zarate	Anne Remulla-Canda

Additional Game 3 crew:

Awards Presenter: Anthony Suntay