MANILA – D’Navigators-Iloilo has assured their long-term commitment to the Spikers’ Turf tournament as they will be one of the nine teams competing in the 2024 Open Conference, which will kick off today at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.
According to D’Navigators-Iloilo team owner Mike Navi, it was a dream of his to establish a volleyball team that will represent the Ilonggos in a professional league like Spikers’ Turf.
“For the D’Navigators-Iloilo, it’s my long-time dream to join in a tournament like Spikers’ Turf because I am from Iloilo,” Navi said during the league’s media conference held last Friday.
“Now that I have brought D’Navigators-Iloilo here, as long as there is volleyball, I think I can commit to the team. We are committed to the Spikers’ Turf’s continued success,” he added.
During their first participation in the 2023 Spikers’ Turf Open Conference, D’Navigators-Iloilo landed at third place after the single-round robin eliminations with a 7-3 win-loss slate.
D’Navigators-Iloilo, however, faltered in the single-round robin semifinals with 1-2 win-loss slate before settling for a fourth place finish after losing to Imus City-AJAA Spikers in the battle-for-third place series.
In their second participation during the 2023 Spikers’ Turf Invitational Conference, the D’Navigators-Iloilo failed to move past the pool stage, winning just two of their five matches.
Aside from D’Navigators-Iloilo, other competing teams in the Open Conference are defending champions Cignal HD Spikers, Criss Cross King Crunchers, and Philippine Air Force.
Completing the field are Maverick, PGJC-Navy, RichMarc Sports, VNS Nasty, and Savouge Aesthetics.
The tournament format is a single-round robin elimination with the top four advancing to the semifinals, as well as a single-round robin phase with the top two disputing the championship and the bottom two clashing for the bronze, both in best-of-three series./PN
