Men’s professional volleyball Hyundai Capital won a valuable runner-up. Began a prestigious reconstruction.
Hyundai Capital lost with a set score of 2-3 in the 2022-23 Dodram V-League men’s championship match against Korean Air (champion match, 3 wins in 5 matches) held on the 3rd. Following the first and second games, they suffered three consecutive losses and gave the championship trophy to Korean Air.
Hyundai Capital’s offensive power weakened as main gun Jeon Gwang-in suffered a right ankle injury at the end of the regular season and left. Director Choi Tae-woong made use of young outside hitters (left) with less than 4 years of debut, such as Hong Dong-seon and Kim Seon-ho, and made a breakthrough with irregular appointments by putting forward strikers Heo Soo-bong and Moon Seong-min in the middle blocker (center) position. In the playoffs (PO) against KEPCO, these tactical changes were effective and took the series with 2 wins and 1 loss, but in the championship game, strength was lacking.
It was a failure to reach the top, but it is a season that can give meaning. This is because, after declaring the rebuilding, they advanced to the postseason (PS) for the first time and even played the championship game.
Hyundai Capital is a prestigious team that has won the regular league five times and the championship four times. However, it ranked 6th in the 2020-21 season and 7th in the 2021-22 season. In November 2020, the middle blocker Shin Young-seok, who was the pillar of the team, was traded to KEPCO, and rebuilding began in earnest, and later gave more opportunities to young players.
In the meantime, manager Choi Tae-woong spent a lot of time looking for the starting setter. The attacking team was reorganized around Heo Soo-bong. Park Kyung-min took over the starting position held by Yeo Oh-hyun, a libero representative of the V-League.
After leader Jeon Kwang-in returned from military service in the middle of last season, his strength and teamwork improved even more, and he reached the final stage (champion) with the harmony of various factors that he had worked hard to rebuild this season.
Coach Choi Tae-woong said after the loss in the third game of the championship game, “I was stressed throughout the PS. The players seemed to play more happily in important games and did better. Thank you very much.” He expressed his gratitude to the players who had grown up and even cried.
Looking back on the past three seasons, coach Choi said, “It was a difficult time to the point where I thought, ‘I don’t think I will be able to rebuild again.’ I thought that the year was not a meaningless time spent.” He continued, “I firmly believe that the era of Hyundai Capital, which has completed a generational change, will come.” 메이저놀이터
Jeong Ji-seok, Korean Air’s main gunner who won the championship, said, “(Left) Kim Seon-ho, who started in the 3rd game, did well as if he were watching a Jeon Kwang-in senior.” Korean Air leader Han Seon-seon also said, “Hyundai Capital is a team that will be more scary next year.”