Alas Pilipinas reunion excites aces Marck Espejo, Bryan Bagunas

Marck Espejo and Bryan Bagunas are excited to team up again if they both make it to the final roster of Alas Pilipinas in the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship starting on Sept. 12 at Mall of Asia Arena.

Espejo, who used to compete against Bagunas in the UAAP and Spikers’ Turf before helping steer the Philippines to a historic 2019 Southeast Asian Games silver medal, can’t wait to share the court with his fellow star spiker again.

“It’s been years since Bryan and I last played together, so I’m really happy (at the prospect of teaming up again),” said Espejo, who last played with Bagunas in the 2023 Asian Games. “I missed his presence and energy on the court, and I’m excited to play alongside him again.”

Coming off a one-year layoff from a knee injury, Bagunas is just happy at the opportunity to train again with the national team and also enjoy working together with younger players.

“Honestly, during my first training with them, I was surprised in a good way,” Bagunas said. “Their improvement is huge. It didn’t even feel like I was training with rookies. Compared to the ones I played with last year, these guys have really stepped it up.”

Bagunas and Espejo graced the MRT Go Live! event to promote the country’s hosting of the 32-nation world championship on Wednesday. they were joined by Owa Retamar, Kim Malabunga, Steve Rotter, Louie Ramirez, Buds Buddin, Leo Ordiales, Josh Ybañez, Peng Taguibolos, Lucca Mamone, Vince Lorenzo, Jack Kalingking, and Lloyd Josafat.

Armed with their three-country European training camp, the faces of Philippine men’s volleyball are leaving no stones unturned with a week to go before taking on Tunisia in the opener.

“I’m excited, but we’re still focused on training so we can bring out the team’s full potential,” said Espejo. “This is a big tournament, of course, and all of us are ready.

“As a team, we still have a long way to go, but we’ve also come a long way since we started training together, especially during our camp in Europe.”

Alas then takes on Egypt on Sept. 16 and Iran four days later.

“All of them are tough. We know the level of play is very high,” Bagunas said when asked of the opposition and the toughest team in their group. “But if I had to choose, I’d say Iran. Iran is really on another level. Still, we’ll do our best to perform well.

“We’re just here to play our game and show what we’ve learned from our coaches,” he went on. “We want to prove that Philippine men’s volleyball has a real chance to compete globally. Like they say, this is just the beginning for more people to recognize what we’re capable of.”