Kim Ji-han, ‘Hero of Challenging Times’ Appears… ‘Jump’ to No. 3 on our card

Jangchung Gymnasium in Seoul on the 22nd, where the 2022-2023 V-League 4th round confrontation between OK Financial Group and Woori Card for men’s professional volleyball took place. A head-to-head match between two teams competing for third place in the men’s division, both command towers picked ‘serv’ as the key point ahead of the match, which was considered the biggest match of this Lunar New Year holiday. 안전놀이터

Director Seok Jin-wook of OK Financial Group said, “Woori Card’s strong serve is burdensome. He said, “I did a lot of serve training and paid a lot of attention in preparation for this.” In fact, this season’s team serve ace OK Financial Group (1.679 per set) is ahead of Woori Card (1.379), but this season showed a weak appearance with 3 losses in 3 matches.

Woori Card coach Shin Young-cheol also saw the ‘serv’ as the key. Director Shin said, “Recently, it has been very difficult for me to serve. He predicts that if he can receive well and serve well, it will be a fun game.”

As expected by the two command towers, joy and sorrow were divided in serving and receiving. The two teams fought back and forth in the first and second sets. In the 1st and 2nd sets, both teams blocked the brunt of the opponent’s attack, with 10 team blocks. In the pouring blocking, the success rate of 1-2 sets of attacks was 37.93% for OK Financial Group and 39.34% for Woori Card, which was less than 40%. Both teams simplified the attack route by shaking the opponent’s receive with a strong serve, and then counterattacked again by blocking the opponent’s attack or treating it as an effective block.

With the first and second sets divided between the two teams, it was OK Financial Group to capture the third set, which seemed to be the watershed of the match. Woori Card’s receive, which had endured OK Financial Group’s continued strong serve baptism with a receiving efficiency of 54.55% until the second set, plummeted to 18.18% in the third set. For OK Financial Group, whose receive was much more shaken than Woori Card throughout the game, it was effective to shake the opponent’s receive as well and draw them into a muddy fight. OK Financial Group’s receiving efficiency in the 3rd set, which stayed in the 20% range in the 1st and 2nd sets, was only 6.25%. In a situation where both teams’ receiving is shaky, the team ahead in blocking will have an advantage. OK Financial Group won the third set with a 4-1 lead in the third set blocking score.

OK Financial Group, which raised the atmosphere by bringing the 3rd set, did not hide its aspirations for 3 points, emitting fierce momentum from the beginning of the 4th set. With the score widening to 10-4, OK Financial Group was expected to win.

Did you say that the hero of the turbulent times emerges from a crisis? Kim Ji-han, who recovered from Corona 19 and had a comeback match that day, appeared as a hero on the Woori Card court. Kim Ji-han, who played only as a substitute until the 3rd set and adjusted his senses, started in the 4th set. Coach Shin Young-cheol changed one outside heater from Song Hee-chae to Kim Ji-han in the fourth set. It was a lineup that expected strong offensive power from the triangular formation of Agamez, Na Gyeong-bok, and Kim Ji-han.

Kim Ji-han made three consecutive sub-aces in a situation where he was trailing 10-4, heating up the atmosphere at Jangchung Gymnasium. With continued strong serve, OK Financial Group’s receive was shaken and the offense was induced, and the score was narrowed to 10-9 in an instant. Woori Card, which has risen with Kim Ji-han’s great performance, won the 4th set and led the match to the 5th set.

Kim Ji-han’s ‘scene-stealer’ level performance continued in the 5th set. Kim Ji-han, who succeeded in a double attack in a 1-1 confrontation situation, shut out the subsequent attack of the opponent’s native main gun Song Myung-geun. Woori Card even landed on the opponent’s court with Park Jun-hyeok’s serve, and in the subsequent attack, Agamez scored with a feint attack that made fun of the opponent’s 3-man blocking.

Woori Card drove the momentum and ended the long New Year’s big match early. Following Agamez’ strong serve, Kim Ji-han’s two direct kills and Agamez’s two aces served alternately, widening the score to 10-2 and consolidating the victory.

In the end, Woori Card, which caught the 5th set 15-8, beat OK Financial Group with a set score of 3-2 (24-26 25-22 20-25 25-21 15-8) and ran 3 consecutive wins. The team with three consecutive victories is Korean Air, Hyundai Capital, and OK Financial Group, which are on the top of the leaderboard, so it is a more pure winning streak.

Woori Card, which added 2 points, tied with OK Financial Group (37 points, 12 wins, 11 losses), which added 1 point, with 37 points (14 wins, 9 losses), but moved up one notch to third place ahead of them in terms of win rate.

Jangchung Gymnasium in Seoul on the 22nd, where the 2022-2023 V-League 4th round confrontation between OK Financial Group and Woori Card for men’s professional volleyball took place. A head-to-head match between two teams competing for third place in the men’s division, both command towers picked ‘serv’ as the key point ahead of the match, which was…