1st place is the influence of Kim Yeon-kyung? “It’s a lie if you don’t”… 1st place in 15 seasons, the volleyball empress laughed

“There were a lot of difficult things during the season…”

Heungkuk Life Insurance won with a set score of 3-0 (25-15, 25-13, 25-16) in the 6th round match against IBK Industrial Bank of the Dodram 2022-2023 V-League Women’s Division held at Hwaseong Indoor Gymnasium on the 15th. Leading Heungkuk Life Insurance, who won 3 points, widened the gap with 2nd place Hyundai E&C (24-10 losses, 70 points) to 9 points with 26 wins and 9 losses and 79 points. Heungkuk Life Insurance confirmed 1st place in the regular league regardless of the remaining games.

‘Volleyball Empress’ Kim Yeon-kyung (35) stood at the top after 15 seasons.

Kim Yeon-kyung, who made her pro debut in her 2005-2006 season, has been at the top for three consecutive seasons since her first year of joining. After entering the Japanese stage in 2009, he went through overseas leagues such as Turkey and China and wore a ‘pink uniform’ again in the 2020-2021 season.

In his first season back, midway through, his momentum was good. However, at the end, as Lee Jae-young and Da-young’s internal division and school violence issues broke out, the atmosphere eventually subsided and the season ended in second place안전놀이터.

Kim Yeon-kyung, who played in China last year, came back to the V-League. This year, too, the situation was not good.

Coach Kwon Soon-chan was sacked during the season in January due to a conflict with the group ‘Upper Line’. The season was run as an agency system, and Marcello Abondanza was appointed in the middle of last month. After twists and turns, Heungkuk Life Insurance, which succeeded in chasing Hyundai E&C, which kept its lead while running 15 consecutive wins in the opening, succeeded in reversing the ranking in the 5th round.

In a cluttered situation, Kim Yeon-kyung took center stage in both offense and defense, and led the team to victory with 23 points and an attack success rate of 52.78% in the match against IBK on the 15th, when one point was needed.

After confirming the 1st place in the regular league, Kim Yeon-kyung said, “It was a long season, but it feels good to be able to finish in 1st place in the regular league. There were many difficult moments, but we were able to overcome the difficult times because we came together well. I want to say thank you.” .

Kim Yeon-kyung continued, “I want to say thank you to the staff. (Kim) Haeran unnie also suffered a lot. We became more reliant on each other. There were also difficult moments, but we tried to cheer up by looking at each other. I made it. I was grateful to be there.”

The joy of being at the top in the V-League for the first time in 15 years. Kim Yeon-kyung said, “I haven’t had many chances to win domestically because I’ve been overseas for a long time. Also, it was unfortunate that I ended up as runner-up two years ago. It feels good to be able to take first place this season. It’s my first time in 15 years, but there’s no other feeling. Still, there was a lot of hard work this year, but I’m happy that I overcame it and had good results.”

Last year, Heungkuk Life Insurance ranked 6th. Kim Yeon-kyung showed determination ahead of this season, saying, “There is only one thing left to do.” Kim Yeon-kyung thanked her, saying, “I had doubts about whether I would be able to rise to first place. There was obviously a hurdle, but I overcame it and managed to manage the points in second place and climbed to first place. To be honest, I didn’t expect it, but the players seemed to have done well.”

Regarding the story of Heungkuk Life’s ‘Kim Yeon-kyung effect’, Kim Yeon-kyung laughed, saying, “If there is no influence, it is a lie” and smiled, “If there is no influence, it seems to be a lie. It gives good influence and the results are good.”

While taking a long break and being able to prepare for the championship game, Kim Yeon-kyung said, “It’s an advantage. I don’t know how the coach will run it as there is one regular league game left, but I have more time. I don’t have to prepare two teams. Since only one team needs to prepare, I think we will have an advantage. I hope that we can prepare well and continue to have good results in the championship match,” he said, “I hope the playoff team will play all 3 games before coming up.”