She won the championship in three of her first four seasons

The “volleyball czar” has been a literal checkbook since her debut. She won the championship in three of her first four seasons.

She then spent her prime years in Europe and China. When she returned to the Dodram V League, she said that she wanted to win a championship in front of her Korean fans.

However, that goal is not so easy to achieve. Kim has reached the championship finals in both of her seasons since returning to Korea, but was swept by GS Caltex in the 2020-2021 season and by Doro Corporation in the 2022-2023 season.

Last season’s defeat was particularly painful. They had a well-deserved break after finishing first in the regular season. Then, in the best-of-five championship series, they won Games 1 and 2 in straight sets. However, they lost three games in a row and collapsed. It was a ‘reverse sweep’ that even Kim Yeon-kyung of Chunha had a hard time getting over the shock.

The 2023-2024 season was even worse. They fought to the end for the top spot in the regular season, but lost to Hyundai E&C by one point. In the process, 안전놀이터 추천 the team couldn’t afford to take care of their physical strength and condition.

Kim Yeon-kyung was born in 1988 and is 36 years old. It’s not unusual for her to talk about retirement every year.

This season, however, she had the most sets (140), most attacks (1,545), and most points (775) in her career, thanks to the lack of foreign players. They will have no time to breathe in the playoffs.

On the other hand, third-place Jungkwanjang clinched third place and a direct playoff berth early, giving their main players a break. They will face Heungkuk Life straight away without any semi-finals.

Coach Marcello Avondanza, who has worked with Kim since Turkey, is worried. “We won two more games than first place, but we’re second,” he said.

Abondanza literally gives each of the three teams a 33% chance of winning the title. “There is no strong team at this point,” he said.

Playoff opponent Jungkwanjang will be without captain Lee So-young. However, Heungkuk Life had lost to Jeong Kwan-jang without Lee in the first round.

“That was in 2023,” Abondanza said. This year will be different,” Abondanza said with humor. “Back then, our apogee was Yelena, Reyna was injured, and our middle blocker was Kim Chae-yeon. “They are very different from now,” he emphasized, adding, “Jungkwanjang, with Park Hye-min playing (instead of Lee So-young), is also a strong team.

Heungkuk Life signed Willow Johnson as a replacement for Yelena at the end of the season.

Willow is great at injecting energy into the team and changing the mood, but she’s not a great outsider.

She also doesn’t have the support of a “legend. Willow’s father, Randy Johnson, is a Major League Baseball legend with 303 career wins, 4,135 innings pitched, and 4,875 strikeouts. During his playing days, he won a World Series with the Arizona Diamondbacks, playing alongside Byung-hyun Kim. But he’s recovering from knee surgery. It”s hard for him to travel on a regular airplane without a charter.

The team’s height is highlighted by Jung Ho-young and Park Eun-jin, the league’s best middle blocker combination. “Jeong Kwan-jang is more threatening than anything else because of her effective blocking,” warned Avondanja.

“There is nothing more to say to Kim Yeon-kyung. I hope she will do as well in the playoffs as she did in the regular season,” he said, adding, “She is not young, but she has never shown her age on the court.”

“I feel the pressure of spring volleyball, and I want to overcome that feeling,” Jung said, reinforcing her determination to win. In particular, she expressed her gratitude to coach Ko Hee-jin, a former middle blocker, for her technical growth. 바카라사이트 In addition to attacking and blocking, she emphasizes team play in front of the net, including two-step connections.

Setter Yeom Hye-sun’s stability is one level above Lee Won-jung and Kim Da-sol.

In the end, only Kim Yeon-kyung has a comparative advantage.

“Heungkuk Life always has a lot of fans, but I’ve never felt that kind of cheering before. I’m more focused. It’s only when I sit down on the bench that I think, ‘There are a lot of people today,'” he explained.

“The scary thing about (Kim) Yeon-kyung is that even when she’s not playing well, she rallies the team together and pushes. You can’t let yourself get beaten,” he vowed.

The first leg of the playoffs between Heungkuk Life and Jeong Kwan-jang will be held on April 22 at 7 p.m. at Samsan World Gymnasium in Incheon.