2023 MPVA season


The 2023 MPVA season was the first overall season of the Maharlika Pilipinas Volleyball Association. The preliminary round began on October 22, 2023 and ended on November 30, 2023. The playoffs then ran from December 2 to 21, 2023. This season featured eight teams from across the country.
The opening ceremony took place at Ynares Center in Antipolo, Rizal with a doubleheader featuring the Caloocan AM Spikers and Negros–ICC Blue Hawks in the first match, followed by the San Juan Lady Knights and Rizal Golden Coolers in the second match.
The Bacoor City Strikers won the league's inaugural championship, after defeating the Negros–ICC Blue Hawks in three matches in the Finals.
The succeeding 2024 season would be the league's first full-length season and is referred to as Season 1. To differentiate the two seasons, the 2023 season is retroactively referred to as the MPVA Inaugural Season.

Teams

The inaugural season feature eight teams: six from Luzon, one from Visayas, and one from Mindanao. The league had previously announced teams based in Bulacan, Manila, and Quezon City, but all three deferred due to time constraints. Each team's roster was revealed on October 21, 2023.

Arenas

At least one gameday is played in a team's designated home arena, usually located within the home locality of the team. Nasipit, Negros, and San Juan are exceptions, as these teams are assigned home venues in non-MPVA markets.
ArenaTeamLocationCapacity
Strike GymnasiumBacoor City StrikersBacoor, Cavite1,500
Santa Rosa Sports ComplexBiñan Tatak GelSanta Rosa, Laguna5,700
Caloocan Sports ComplexCaloocan AM SpikersCaloocan2,500
Marikina Sports CenterMarikina Lady ShoemastersMarikina7,000
Baliwag Star ArenaNasipit Lady SpikersBaliwag, Bulacan5,000
Ynares Sports ArenaNegros–ICC Blue HawksPasig3,000
Ynares CenterRizal Golden CoolersAntipolo, Rizal7,400
University of Perpetual Help System DALTASan Juan Lady KnightsLas PiñasN/A
Arellano University School of LawManilaN/A
Lyceum of the Philippines UniversityManilaN/A

Roster regulations

The league has a set of roster regulations, putting restrictions on which and how many players and which players each team can place onto its roster. The initial roster regulations are as follows:
  • All players must at least eighteen years old or above to be able to join a team.
  • Each team must have at least three homegrown players – local players who are native to their team's home locality.
  • Each team is limited to three ex-professional players – players with prior participation in professional leagues such as the defunct Philippine Super Liga or Premier Volleyball League.

Preliminary round

The preliminary round began on October 22, 2023 with the opening ceremonies at the Ynares Center in Antipolo, Rizal. It was divided into two stages: the round-robin stage and the group stage. In the round-robin stage, all eight teams play one game against all other teams. In the group stage, two groups of four teams were formed, from there a round-robin format is then used for each group. In each gameday, a set of games are played in a team's homecourt, with the final game often featuring the designated home team.

Pool standing procedure

  • First, teams are ranked by the number of match points, wherein:
  • * Match won 3–0 or 3–1: 3 match points for the winner, 0 match points for the loser.
  • * Match won 3–2: 2 match points for the winner, 1 match point for the loser.
  • In case of any ties, the following criteria shall be used:
  1. Win-loss record
  2. Set ratio: number of sets won divided by number of sets lost.
  3. Setpoint ratio: number of points scored divided by number of points allowed.
  4. Head-to-head standings: any remaining tied teams are ranked based on the results of head-to-head matches involving the teams in question.

Match results

The team abbreviation in parentheses indicate the designated home team for that gameday. Arenas in italics indicate games that are played in non-MPVA markets.

Round-robin stage



Group stage



Playoffs

The playoffs began on December 2, 2023.
All eight teams automatically qualify for a three-round, single-elimination playoffs. In the Quarterfinals, the top four teams are given a twice-to-beat advantage, requiring them to only win one game to advance while their opponents must win two games. A best-of-three format will then be used for the Semifinals and Finals. Alongside the Finals for the winning teams of the Semifinals, there will also be a best-of-three Bronze Medal Match between the losing teams of the Semifinals.

Quarterfinals

Negros–ICC Blue Hawks vs. San Juan Lady Knights


Rizal Golden Coolers vs. Biñan Tatak Gel


Bacoor City Strikers vs. Caloocan AM Spikers


Nasipit Lady Spikers vs. Marikina Lady Shoemasters


Semifinals

Negros–ICC Blue Hawks vs. Marikina Lady Shoemasters


Rizal Golden Coolers vs. Bacoor City Strikers


Bronze Medal Match



Finals



Final standings

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RankTeam
Bacoor City Strikers
Negros–ICC Blue Hawks
Marikina Lady Shoemasters
4Rizal Golden Coolers
5Nasipit Lady Spikers
6Caloocan AM Spikers
7Biñan Tatak Gel
8San Juan Lady Knights

Awards and medalists

Individual awards


AwardPlayerTeam
Most Valuable PlayerShaila OmiponBacoor City
1st Best Outside SpikerShaila OmiponBacoor City
2nd Best Outside SpikerAngel Mae HabaconNegros
1st Best Middle BlockerRazel AldeaBacoor City
2nd Best Middle BlockerChristine Joy ApanNegros
Best Opposite SpikerReyann CañeteNegros
Best SetterVenice PuzonRizal
Best LiberoAlyssa EroaMarikina
Best Homegrown PlayerJaneth TulangRizal

Media coverage

All games are aired on Media Pilipinas TV on television. For streaming, Cignal TV streams all of the games on its Pilipinas Live service. On social media, Plus Network broadcasts the games across all of its pages as well as on the MPVA's Facebook page.