Marck Espejo has dominated the last half-decade of Philippine college volleyball. Now that he has exhausted his eligibility, he is walking away from the UAAP as a 5 time MVP and three time champion. His next stop and start to professional career will be in the Japanese V1 League (2nd division), where he will suit up for Oita Miyoshi Weisse Adler volleyball club starting in September. He has already broken the news to his fans on twitter (below).
Espejo had been on Weisse Adler’s radar for a long time, as he did a tryout with the team last December. Since them, the team’s scouts frequently traveled to the Philippines to watch his games. Here is what Espejo told Spin.ph about his move:
“One of the goals of every Philippine athlete is to play abroad after doing well at home. My feeling is of excitement. I’ll have to work a lot. The game in Japan is at a much higher level than in the Philippines. The skills I have gathered here is not yet enough to compete in Japan. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I’ll have to work harder, double my effort, in order to show my talent and represent my country.”
Indeed, Espejo is perhaps one the biggest talents to ever come out the Philippines, dazzling fans with his offensive powered game (He once scored 55 points in a match). However, the move to professional volleyball is seldom an easy one, and he’ll have steep hills climb from now on. Fans will be wishing him all the luck in the world.
Weisse Adler head coach Takashi Ogawa hands Marck Espejo his blue jersey. Espejo keeps his jersey no. 15 | @abscbnsports pic.twitter.com/mAOSpD0RrS
— Paul Kennedy Lintag (@paullintag8) May 27, 2018
Oita Miyoshi Weisse Adler 🇯🇵
White Eagle #15 @MarckEspejooo pic.twitter.com/hB5xchpqbK— Marck Espejo (@MarckEspejoo) May 27, 2018
Oita was promoted to the new version on the V.LEAGUE for next year and V1 is the name of the top division. They did play in the second division this past season.