The Farm Fresh Foxies will proceed to the semifinals for the first time in the PVL. PVL Media Bureau
MANILA (UPDATED) — Farm Fresh has barged into the Premier Volleyball League (PVL) semifinals for the first time in its franchise history.
The Foxies will advance to the 2026 PVL All-Filipino Conference Final Four after beating Nxled, 25-17, 25-20, 25-19, in the play-in tournament on Tuesday at the Filoil Centre in San Juan.
They joined PLDT and Cignal, which earlier qualified for the semis phase before the Holy Week break.
Farm Fresh avenged its preliminary round loss to Nxled, where the Chameleons won in a five-set thriller, 23-25, 25-13, 25-21, 15-25, 12-15.
Notably, it was a triumph notched by former Petro Gazz Angels head coach Koji Tsuzurabara and captain Remy Palma over their ex-teammates Brooke Van Sickle, MJ Phillips, Myla Pablo, Jules Tolentino, Bang Pineda, Djanel Cheng, Ranya Musa, Jellie Tempiatura, Nicole Tiamzon, AA Adolfo and Jonah Sabete-Escamillan — the core of the 2024-25 All-Filipino champion squad last year.
From an 8-6 Nxled lead in the final frame, the Foxies unleashed a dominant 10-1 run to pull away, capped by a Trisha Tubu push off the hands of the blockers for a 16-9 advantage.
Farm Fresh found the closeout late, as Royse Tubino fired back-to-back kills in the endgame from the 23-19 count.
READ: PVL: New-look Nxled survives Farm Fresh in five-set marathon to open All-Filipino campaign
For Trisha Tubu, who was with Farm Fresh since 2023, proceeding to the semis was a dream come true, trusting the long process to reach this point.
"To be honest po, sobrang sarap sa feeling. Pinapangarap ko lang 'to dati, as in, and hindi ko alam kung kailan namin makukuha. Pero ito, through process and help na lang din ng management and bawat isa, talagang trinabaho namin itong semis berth na to," said Tubu who dropped 12 points on 10 attacks and two blocks.
Ces Molina delivered 10 markers, while Ara Galang had a decent afternoon with nine points and six excellent receptions.
Orchestrating the Farm Fresh offense was Alohi Robins-Hardy, who had 16 excellent sets.
READ: PVL: Petro Gazz takes leave of absence; Angels now free agents
Meanwhile, it was a sorry run for the Van Sickle-captained squad, suffering a play-in exit in the all-local tourney where they were expected to carry the Chameleons deep into the tournament.
The Fil-American star spiker had 13 points and 11 excellent receptions before heading out, while Phillips also had 11 points built on nine spikes and two rejections on the net.