It was a season where Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance and KGC Ginseng Corporation left a lot of regret.
Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, a ‘traditional house’, fell to 7th place, the lowest in the men’s professional volleyball team. They tried to turn around by appointing new manager Kim Sang-woo, but the ranking went down one notch from last season. Ginseng Corporation in the women’s division fought hard, but failed to advance to the postseason as they lacked one point. It stayed in 4th place, 4 points behind 3rd place Korea Expressway Corporation. I had to watch as the Korea Expressway Corporation completely defeated 2nd place Hyundai E&C in the playoffs and caught the champs with a miraculous ‘reverse sweep’.
That’s why Kim Jun-woo (23) and Choi Hyo-seo (19) are more welcome. The volleyball world has confirmed the potential of those who can expect a better next season. Samsung Fire Middle Blocker Kim Jun-woo and Ginseng Corporation Libero Choi Hyo-seo received the male and female new player awards side by side at the Dodram 2022-2023 V-League Awards Ceremony held at the Grand Hyatt Seoul Hotel in Yongsan-gu, Seoul on the 10th.
Kim Jun-woo came out of the early draft after finishing his junior year at Hongik University and joined Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance with the 3rd pick in the first round last year. He has been active since the opening game of the regular league this season and left outstanding results. He appeared in 35 games and scored 203 points, the most among his rookies. It was ranked in the top 10 in the league in both fast-breaking and blocking, which are the main roles of middle blockers. It ranked 6th with 0.543 blocks per set and 10th with a quick break success rate of 53.17%. This is why it is said that Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance’s biggest income this season. 먹튀검증
Choi Hyo-seo, who graduated from Hanbom High School, was nominated by the Ginseng Corporation in the 6th place in the 2nd round. He contributed to the team’s victory by starting from the opening game due to the injury of the main player, Libero Yellow. He guarded the team’s defensive line, sharing the burden with outside hitter Go Min-ji as a libero until Yellow returned in the 4th round. He was the only rookie to appear in the All-Star Game and won the Best Libero Contest held as a halftime event. Choi Hyo-seo is the first time a libero has won the Rookie of the Year award in women’s volleyball.
Choi Hyo-seo said, “I remember the first game of the season against IBK Industrial Bank, where her older sister Choi Jung-min plays,” and said, “It was very difficult when things didn’t go as well as I thought, but I trained more to overcome.” Choi Hyo-seo said that receiving is the most difficult, and expressed her aspirations to become a player like Lim Myung-ok, a Korea Expressway Corporation Libero who achieved 6,000 receives for the first time this season.
Regarding winning the rookie award competition against Hyundai Capital setter Lee Hyeon-seung, Kim Jun-woo said, “I thought the possibility was about half and half, but I think it was because I played a lot of matches from the beginning of the season and showed improvement as the rounds progressed.” Kim Jun-woo expressed his gratitude to coach Kim Sang-woo, who was one of the leading middle blockers during his active career, and said, “As I came to the pros and was slow to break through, it was helpful to try to resemble what the coach did as much as possible. I will show you a better look,” he said.