Marck Espejo impresses in Bahrain volleyball debut despite loss

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

 

Filipino volleyball superstar Marck Espejo turned heads in his Bahrain Rashid Volleyball League debut with the Bani Jamra but fell short to Al-Ahli, 13-25, 25-20, 24-26, 18-25.

The coaches of Bani Jamra did not waste time and sent in Espejo off the bench despite arriving in Bahrain a few days before their showdown against Al-Ahli.

The Filipino spiker immediately made impact as soon as he was subbed in and provided the scoring punch that his squad lacked in their first set loss.

Espejo was the key in their second set victory after pouring in the offense to finish the game with 19 huge markers – 18 of which were spikes.

In that second set, Espejo alone unloaded six successful attacks and helped energize his teammates to finish the set strong.

However, Al-Ahli made certain adjustments at the start of the third set and eventually did not look back until the fourth after handing Jamra two-straight set losses.

Despite the loss, Espejo was still grateful that hundreds of Filipino supporters stayed late just to watch him play.