Champs ‘first starter’ Lee Won-jeong vs ‘first appearance’ Lee Yun-jeong… Cheers for the final victory, it’s up to them

The direction of the championship cup in the 2022-23 V-League Women’s Division Championship is expected to depend on the fingertips of young setters from both teams, Lee Won-jeong (23, Heungkuk Life Insurance) and Lee Yoon-jeong (26, Highway Corporation). After 2 losses, the road construction won 2 consecutive wins, and the two teams eventually played until the final match.

Lee Won-jeong and Lee Yun-jung, both setters, are not familiar with spring volleyball.

Immediately after Lee Won-jung joined (Road Corporation) 먹튀검증in 2017, the road corporation, which was his team at the time, won the championship, and even after transferring to GS Caltex in May 2020, the team won the 2020-21 season treble (one season cup competition, regular season ㆍSimultaneous championship win), but was not the main setter on both occasions. After moving to Heungkuk Life Insurance this season, he started in earnest from February, so this is the first time Lee Won-jung has been fully responsible for the championship.

Although he started as the first setter in spring volleyball, Lee Won-jeong actively utilized Kim Yeon-kyung in the first and second games, and made good use of the power of the ‘double gun’ by raising Yelena’s attack success rate. However, in the 3rd and 4th games, the toss faltered and this did not come out. In particular, in the case of the 4th game, there were few balls distributed to Kim Yeon-kyung, and it was difficult to breathe with Yelena. His central attack didn’t even dare to be used. Also, even though blocking and defense were better than the opponent, he had a hard time connecting to the second stage throughout the game. Coach Abondanza also stressed several times that “the connection must be smoother” during the operation time during the game, but eventually knelt down.

Lee Won-jung said, “(Playing as the main setter) the tension in this championship match is definitely different. At the road construction, I had no idea, and at GS Caltex, I was a bit (nervous).”

Lee Yoon-jung is also 26 years old this year, which is not a small age, but after going through unemployment, she made her debut at the road construction last season, so in terms of her professional career, she is now in her second year. This is Lee Yoon-jung’s first spring volleyball, as he finished second in the regular league last season, but could not play the postseason due to the aftermath of Corona 19.

In the 1st and 2nd rounds of the championship match, Heungkuk Life Insurance’s effective serve swayed the receive, and Lee Yoon-jung also had difficulty delivering the ball. Coach Jong-min Kim also pointed out that after the loss in the first game, “there were often erratic scenes because the breathing between Lee Yoon-jung and the striker did not match.” However, in the 3rd and 4th games, with strong mental management that did not collapse, it played a supporting role in posting a miraculous 2-game winning streak after 2 consecutive losses.

Manager Kim also said, “For an inexperienced player, he is holding up very well.”

Now, both teams have only the final 5th game of the championship game with “50/50 odds of winning” left. The final game, in which the fates of the two teams are divided, will be held on the 6th at Samsan World Gymnasium in Incheon, the home stadium of Heungkuk Life Insurance.

Article provided by Hankook Ilbo