"Shock Upheaval"... "Buddhist Standing Director Without Foreigners, Stardom Group Kepco"...a professional humiliation

Sep 22, 2024

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Humiliation and surprise.

Wouldn't it be a game that can be explained by these two words.

The 'Bulsajo' Armed Forces Sports Unit (Sangmu) caught a big fish.

In the second day of the 2024 Tongyeong Dodram Cup Professional Volleyball Championship held at Tongyeong Gymnasium on the 22nd, Sangmu caused a stir by sinking KEPCO 3-1 (32-34, 25-23, 25-22, 25-17) with a set score.

a managing director invited to a professional cup competition. Of course, it was composed of professional players, but there were no foreign players and no players who could be said to be the main players in each team except for national setter Hwang Taek-ui. It was almost inferior in terms of power. But the ball was round. With perfect organizational volleyball, KEPCO, which is full of stars such as Shin Young-seok, Seo Jae-deok, and Lim Sung-jin, was destroyed.

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Before the game, Sangmu coach Park Sam-yong said, `I was disappointed that I was not invited to last year's competition. I think the players will have a good experience through this tournament,' he said. `I will fight with all my might at first, but I'm going to give many players a chance after seeing the situation.' Coach Park himself admitted his inferiority.

However, Korea Electric Power Corporation also had a lot of unstable factors. With Ha Seung-woo's enlistment and Kim Kwang-guk's retirement, the setter was filled with Yamato in the Asian quarter. The foreign striker was also replaced by Elia. Libero positions were also changed to young players Kim Gun-hee and Lee Ji-seok. Head coach Kwon Young-min said, `I'm worried about Yamato's lack of teamwork with Lim Sung-jin and Elia's first position as an apogit spiker.'

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There were signs of an unusual change from the first set. Sangmu shook KEPCO with a 'eight color' attack based on Hwang Taek's brilliant toss. The power of Lim Jae-young, Hong Dong-seon, and Choi Eun-seok's triangle formation was enormous. On the contrary, KEPCO was too dependent on Elia's attacks.

A very close match in the first set. There was a huge deuce battle. Still, KEPCO kept its professional pride. Lim Sung-jin's decisive block came out and won 34-32.

However, Sangmu's first set was never luck. He also faced off confidently in the second set with persistent defense and solid organizational volleyball. Lim Jae-young's decisive serve ace from the 24-23 situation brought the second set, completely changing the flow of the game.

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Sangmu was alive, and Korea Electric Power Corp. was more shaken. The third set also did not change much. When Elia strengthened, KEPCO seemed to follow, but Sangmu stably widened the gap. At every crisis, Lim Jae-young scored an important point and brought the third set 25-22.

The atmosphere continued into the fourth set. In the middle of the set, the score gap widened to 17-7, with Hwang Taek's second consecutive serve ace bursting due to the ridiculous mistakes of KEPCO players. KEPCO players failed to play as if they had lost their will. On the contrary, managing director Giga San drew cheers from fans who visited the scene with his tremendous concentration of defense. Coach Kwon threw a towel in the middle of the fourth set, taking out the main players.

In Sangmu, all players played evenly, including Lim Jae-young 23 points, Hong Dong-sun 16 points, and Choi Eun-seok 13 points. Korea Electric Power Corporation struggled with Elia scoring 30 points alone, but it was not enough to change the result of the game.

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