MANILA, Philippines -- Two foreign teams -- the Kobe Shinwa Women's University and the KingWhale Taipei -- will test the mettle of local squads in the Premier Volleyball League (PVL) during its Invitational Conference that starts on July 2.

The guest teams will be immediately seeded into the semifinals that starts on August 29, while seven local squads will battle for four spots in a round-robin elimination round.

Leading the way are PVL Open Conference champions Creamline Cool Smashers, along with runners-up Petro Gazz, Chery Tiggo, Cignal, Choco Mucho, Army Black Mamba, and PLDT.

Skipping the mid-season conference are F2 Logistics and BaliPure.

Kobe Shinwa is familiar to local volleyball fans as they previously competed in the Philippine Superliga in 2017. KingWhale Taipei, meanwhile, placed second in the 2021 season of the Taiwan Enterprise Volleyball League.

The top four local teams will advance to the next round where they will take on the visiting teams in another single-round format. All squads will be ranked using the FIVB Ranking System with the top four moving to the next phase.

"It is our continuing commitment to raise the level of local volleyball and the presence of the Japan and Taiwan squads will surely help toughen up the competition and improve the quality of play," Sports Vision president Ricky Palou said.

The league will take a break in the middle of the semifinals, from July 11 to August 20, to give way to the national volleyball team's preparation for the Asian Women's Volleyball Cup on August 21-28.

PVL matches will resume on August 29.