MJ Phillips remains laser-focused on Petro Gazz’s championship campaign in the 2023 Premier Volleyball League All-Filipino Conference despite her upcoming 2022 Korean V-League Draft.
The Reinforced Conference 1st Best Middle Blocker confirmed that she has accepted the invitation of the Korean Volleyball Federation to participate in the V-League’s Asian Quota Player draft, just moments after the Angels clinched a spot in the gold medal series on Thursday night.
“The opportunity came about Vania Edralin. She spoke to me and she said, ‘Hey, they’re looking for a [player] for the Asian Quota in the Korean League’ and I figured I’d shoot my shot,” shared Phillips, who is one of the leading blockers in the tournament.
Phillips said that she has the full support of her Petro Gazz family as she aims to carve a new path in her volleyball career.
The 27-year-old, 6-foot middle blocker also said that she is looking forward to testing her skills against Korea’s top-flight talents.
“They supported me all the way. Of course, I asked the management because there’s a possibility that It’ll come in the middle of the season so they just were proud of me and they encouraged me to try out internationally,” Phillips said.
“I’m looking forward to high-level volleyball. Not to say that this isn’t, I’m just saying that Korea is just on a different level and I just want to see how my skills level up to that.”
Phillips finished with a game-high 15 points on 11 attacks and four kill blocks to spearhead the Angels’ 25-17, 25-23, 25-15, Game Three win over PLDT at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
Petro Gazz is set to take on Creamline for the fourth time in the PVL finale.
Aside from Phillips, also invited to be part of the women’s draft are Akari’s Dindin Santiago-Manabat, Mylene Paat of Chery Tiggo, Creamline’s Jia De Guzman, and the F2 Logistics duo of Majoy Baron and Iris Tolenada.
Over at the men’s side, Cignal’s Marck Espejo, JP Bugaoan, and Manuel Sumanguid III are all invited to try out along with Jau Umandal of AMC-Cotabato.
