Professional volleyball Uijeongbu KB Insurance is escaping from the swamp of despair and inflating hopes of advancing to spring volleyball for three consecutive seasons.
As of the 5th, in the V-League men’s division, 1st place Incheon Korean Air (55 points) and 2nd place Cheonan Hyundai Capital (49 points) are likely to advance to spring volleyball, while 3rd place Seoul Woori Card (39 points) and 4th place Suwon KEPCO ( 38 points), 5th place Ansan OK Financial Group (37 points), and 6th place KB Insurance (30 points) are competing for the remaining seats.
KB Insurance remains in 6th place, but has started a great turnaround by recording 4 wins and 1 loss in the last 5 games. Out of despair, when the postseason was considered impossible, the gap between Woori Card and Woori Card, who placed 3rd, narrowed to 9 points. In particular, there is a growing hope that they can go to the semi-playoff, which is established when the difference in points between the 3rd and 4th places is less than 3 points.
At the center of KB Insurance’s hopes of advancing to the postseason, substitute foreign player Viyena has a lot to do with it. Villena wore the KB Insurance uniform at the end of December last year as a substitute for Nicola Melanac, who had many ups and downs.
At the time of her joining, public opinion towards Vijena was dubious. Previously, he had experience in the V-League, such as being selected as the ‘Best 7’ for his fantastic performance at Korean Air in the 2019-2020 season, but the following year, he packed his bags for 11 games and returned due to a knee injury. In addition, few experts predicted that he, the smallest among foreign players, would become the savior of the team that fell to the bottom, as he is only 194 cm tall. 메이저놀이터
However, Vijena is raging with an average of 27.6 points per game and an attack success rate of 54.63% in 10 matches. It shows an amazing success rate regardless of open attack (42.1%) and back attack (41.6%), and is showing more advanced skills in defense and dig compared to the days of Korean Air.
In addition, Han Seong-jeong, a native striker who suffered from sluggishness in the first half, recently increased his training and is gradually finding his might. On the 4th, Han Seong-jeong did her part as a second-option resource when Viyena’s attack on the OK Financial Group was blocked. In this game, she scored 13 points and was even named the MVP of the match with an attack success rate of 80%. In addition, the fact that setter Hwang Taek-eui is showing the best skills in Korea after returning from back pain is giving hope to KB Insurance.
On the other hand, KB Insurance will face KEPCO, which is currently on the rise, on the 9th. In the synergy between domestic players and Villena, who led the team to victory with 33 points and 32 points, respectively, in the last two confrontations with KEPCO, KB Insurance is inflated with expectations for three consecutive wins.