Pepper Savings Bank, 'Another 3 consecutive losses' But it was different than before
Pepper Savings Bank, 'Another 3 consecutive losses' But it was different than before
Blog Article
Park Jung-ah Resurrection-Pepper Savings Bank Ends Cup Competition by checking the power of the position
The women's team of the 2024 Professional Volleyball Cup, which was held in Busan in 2009 for the first time in 15 years, ended with the victory of Hyundai Engineering & Construction Hillstate on the 6th. Last season's V-League integrated champion Hyundai Engineering & Construction won its fifth career Cup championship by beating IBK Industrial Bank Altos 3-0 in the semifinals and Jeong Kwan-jang's Red Sparks 3-1 in the final after finishing second in Group A with 2-1 wins.
Jeong Kwan-jang of Group B, who had two wins in the group league first, lost the final match against the invited team Prestige International Aranmare by 1-3. Therefore, out of the eight teams that participated in this year's event, only one team failed to win. It was Pepper Savings Bank AI Peppers, the youngest team in Group A, who was eliminated from the group league after losing to Hyundai Engineering & Construction, Korea Expressway Corporation Hi-pass and GS Caltex KIXX.
Founded in 2021, Pepper Savings Bank has participated in cup competitions since 2022, but has not won a single championship in three years. However, Pepper Savings Bank, which lost 0-3 in all games in 2022 and won two sets in three games last year, performed well by winning three sets in three games, including a full set game for the first time in this year's cup competition. This year's cup competition was a positive test for Pepper Savings Bank, which was at the bottom for three consecutive seasons.
It's our 3rd anniversary. We already have 4 directors
Since its inception in September 2021, Pepper Savings Bank has played for three seasons, recording 13 wins and 90 losses in 103 matches. Its overall winning percentage was only .126, and it earned only 42 points over the three seasons. This is nine points short of Industrial Bank of Korea (51 points), which failed to advance to the spring volleyball league as the fifth-ranked team in the league last season. In short, Pepper Savings Bank was an "unrivaled weakest" in the V-League, awarding points to opponents.
As his performance was so poor, he had to be replaced frequently. Pepper Savings Bank appointed Kim Hyung-sil, who led the team to the semi-finals at the 2012 London Olympics, as its founding coach. However, Kim voluntarily resigned in November 2022 due to poor performance as the coach expected "the chemistry between veteran coach and new players." Korean-American coach Ahen Kim, who took office in February last year, failed to lead an official match and retired after four months due to family problems.
As the team's third coach, Pepper Savings Bank appointed its foreign coach Joe Trinzy once again. Trinzy, the young coach born in 1987, expressed his aspiration to pursue "smart volleyball," but Pepper Savings Bank was once again pushed to the bottom by setting the record of most consecutive wins (23 consecutive losses) in a single season for the women's team last season. Trinzy was also dismissed in February, failing to lead the team properly even in a single season.
After three coaches joined the team for three seasons, Pepper Savings Bank appointed SBS Sports commentator Jang Ji-yeon as its fourth coach in March. Volleyball fans expressed their expectations by referring to Park Mi-hee (KBS N Sports commentator), who led Heungkuk Life Pink Spiders to the championship in the 2018-2019 season. However, there were also many concerns whether Coach Jang Ji-yeon, who has no experience as a coach or even coaching, could lead Pepper Savings Bank to take the leap forward.
Pepper Savings Bank invested a total of 870 million won (870,000 U.S. dollars) for three years in the free agent market to recruit Korean national team player Libero Han Da-hye. In the Asian Quarter and the draft for foreign players, the bank obtained the first overall pick, and drafted middle blocker Jangwi who is 196 centimeters tall and Afogit Spiker Barbarra Jabic who is from Croatia. In June, it gave up setter Lee Go-eun and brought setter Lee Won-jeong through a trade with Heungkuk Life Insurance, making changes to the setter.
The 2024 Cup Competition Showed a Better Game
After reorganizing its teams, Pepper Savings Bank prepared for the World Cup through off-season training in Japan. As this year's World Cup is held about three weeks before the opening of the V-League, foreign and Asian quarter players have been allowed to participate in the event and all teams have no chance to play for the national team. Therefore, it was a good opportunity for Pepper Savings Bank to check the skills and capabilities of the newly joined teams.
Pepper Savings Bank met with Hyundai Engineering & Construction, the champion of the V-League, from the first game of the Cup championship. Pepper Savings Bank had a close game with Hyundai Engineering & Construction going all the way to the full set, but ended up losing the game 2-3 with a set score. Notably, the team displayed even play in the second and third sets, as evidenced by a two-point gap. Pepper Savings Bank performed well against Korea Expressway Corporation on Sunday by winning a set, and also scored more than 20 points in every set in the game against GS Caltex, which was defeated 0-3.
Pepper Savings Bank's biggest achievement in this year's Cup is confirmation of the revival of Park Jeong-ah, the "clutch-bak" player. Park, who scored 468 points (11th) with a 32.68 percent success rate (12th) last season, performed her role as an indigenous ace by scoring 56 points with a 35.04 percent success rate in three matches of this year's Cup. The height of Jangwi, who ranked first in two categories with 1.08 blockings per set and 58.33 percent success rate, was also remarkable.
Of course, he had some regrets. More than anything else, it remains regrettable that Zavic, a foreign player who is supposed to be Pepper Savings Bank's main striker, only scored 47 points in three matches with a 31.06 percent success rate. Notably, Zavic was replaced by Park Kyung-hyun midway through the second set after scoring just four points in the final group match with GS Caltex at a 21.43 percent success rate. If Pepper wants to show good performance in the V-League, it should minimize Zavic's ups and downs.
In fact, Pepper Savings Bank did not have Lee Won-jeong, setter, and outside heater Lee Han-bi at this year's Cup due to injury. This means that the members who participated in the Cup were not the "complete body" that coach Yoo Ji-yeon had in mind. Of course, the addition of Lee Won-jeong and Lee Han-bi does not guarantee that Pepper Savings Bank's performance will improve dramatically. However, it is very encouraging for Pepper Savings Bank that it still has more power to add to its potential at the Cup. 토토사이트