The league bared on Wednesday that it is pushing its start to a week later in the mid-season offering to give the seven participating teams more time to prepare for the inaugural Invitational conference.

Reigning Open Conference champion Creamline looks to defend its title after ruling the Open Conference with big efforts from volleyball superstars Alyssa Valdez, Jema Galanza, Tots Carlos, and Jia Morado.

Joining the fold are Open Conference runner-up PetroGazz, Cignal HD, Choco Mucho, Chery Tiggo, Army Black Mamba, and PLDT.

Meanwhile, F2 Logistics and BaliPure announced on Monday that they will opt to skip the midseason tourney.

The seven local squads will go head-to-head in a single round-robin format with the top four teams advancing to the semifinals.

The local teams will clash with each other in the semifinal berth before the break to give way to the Philippine Women’s National Volleyball Team training in preparation for the AVC (Asian Women’s Volleyball Cup) 2022 on Aug. 21-28.

Two Asian teams, Kobe Shinwa Women’s University of Japan and Taipei King Whales will also contend in the invitational, earning an automatic semifinal berth.