Last season’s professional volleyball men’s and women’s champions, Korean Air and Korea Expressway Corporation, are in trouble.
With performance below expectations, it is necessary to consider replacing foreign players.
Korean Air, the men’s defending champion, won 3-1 in the ‘Dodram 2023-2024 V-League’ KEPCO match held at Suwon Gymnasium on the 13th and escaped a three-game losing streak.
As a result, Korean Air dropped Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance to third place and rose to second place.
However, second place in the league is not satisfactory for Korean Air. 카지노사이트
Korean Air, which achieved the combined championship three times in a row by winning both the regular league and the championship game
is aiming for an unprecedented fourth consecutive combined championship in the V-League
but the prevailing view is that its recent momentum is not as good as before.
It is a matter of concern that Australian Lincoln Williams, who led the championship in the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 seasons
has a physical problem. Lincoln, whose playing time has been reduced since the start of this season
is suffering from a decline in indicators in all areas of attack.
The reason for the poor performance is a serious injury.
Lincoln, who returned after rehabilitation due to knee pain before the start of the season
is currently sidelined due to a back injury.
Korean Air coach Tommy Tilikainen even admits that he won’t be able to play for a long time.
This part reminds me of Hyundai Engineering & Construction in the women’s division last season.
Hyundai Engineering & Construction, which had been setting a new record for the most consecutive wins in the women’s division at the beginning of the season
was greatly shaken by the back injury and subsequent surgery of American main gun Yasmin.
While waiting for Yasmin’s return, the replacement of foreign players was delayed, and as a result
Hyundai Engineering & Construction lost to Korea Expressway Corporation in the playoffs and fell away from the championship.
Korean Air has no choice but to worry about whether and when to replace foreign players.
Road Corporation, the winning team in the women’s division last season, is experiencing serious slump.
Road Corporation, which won the championship last season by beating Heungkuk Life Insurance with a near-miraculous comeback victory in the championship game
is unable to fill the void following the departure of Park Jeong-ah and Jeong Dae-young before the season.
The Korea Expressway Corporation, which suffered 6 consecutive losses and has 3 wins, 12 losses, and 12 points, is ranked 6th out of 7 teams.
Below the Road Corporation, there is only Pepper Savings Bank, ranked 7th and lowest.
Park Jeong-ah’s gap is being filled by Thailand’s Tanacha Suksot, and Chung Dae-young’s gap is being filled by newcomer Kim Se-bin
but it is bound to lose weight. Setter Lee Yoon-jeong, who led the team to the championship, is also suffering from a minor injury.
Foreign player Vanja Bukiric from Serbia is also failing to meet expectations.
Bukiric is ranked at the bottom among foreign players from 7 teams in all attack categories.
With his height of 198cm, it was expected that he would help with his height
but he is not producing good records in terms of blocking either.
Accordingly, it seems likely that the Korea Expressway Corporation will bring out a foreign replacement card in the middle of the season, following last season.
Last season, the road construction company selected Katarina Jovic, who is from Serbia like Bukiric, in the foreign draft
but released her on January 4th and brought in Cat Bell (Katherine Bell) from the United States
who has experience in the V-League.
At the time, Canarina did not perform well even in the weakest Pepper Savings Bank match and was notified of her release as a result.
The Korea Expressway Corporation, which filled the vacancy with Cat Bell
gradually narrowed the gap with Hyundai Engineering & Construction and Heungkuk Life Insurance and achieved a miraculous victory in the postseason.
Attention is being paid to whether the Korea Expressway Corporation will bring out the card of replacing foreign players like last season to turn the atmosphere around.