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| Heungkuk Life Insurance’s Kim Yeon-kyung lifts up a flash after Lee Joo-ah blocks the spike of opponent Lazarev in the first round of PO against IBK Industrial Bank held at Incheon Gyeyang Gymnasium on the 20th. (Provided by Korea Volleyball Federation) © News 1 |
Whenever Lee Joo-ah (21), the center of the women’s professional volleyball Heungkuk Life, scored a score, the song ‘Duri-Joo-wa’ by ‘Yoo Do-R-Gon (Yoo Jae-seok)’ rang out in Gyeyang Gymnasium, Incheon. The court was full of excitement with the song from the entertainment program.
Kim Yeon-gyeong also enjoyed the joy of’claim’ Kim Yeon-gyeong as Joo-ah caught the decisive blocking and hug him. A laughter blossomed on the face of Joo-ah Lee, who boarded’Yeonkyung Land’. Heungkuk Life, who was excited, caught the first game of the most important playoffs (2nd match of 3rd match).
Heungkuk Life Insurance won 3-1 (25-20 23-25 25-18 25-21) against IBK Industrial Bank in the 1st leg of the 2020-21 Dodram Playoff held at Incheon Gyeyang Gymnasium on the 20th.
In Heungkuk Life Insurance, Ace Kim Yeon-kyung led the attack with 29 points and an attack success rate of 60%, leading the victory.
Above all, the most impressive thing in the first round of PO was the overwhelming 13-4 of the blocking number. I shook the IBK receive line with Kang Sub, and gained an edge in a high fight and achieved a complete victory.
It attracted attention that the relatively young center duo Kim Chae-yeon (7 points, 3 blocking) and Lee Joo-ah (9 points, blocking 4) performed well against IBK Kim Soo-ji and Kim Hee-jin, which were held by the national center team.
At the end of the season, veteran Kim Se-young was expected to become inferior when he left due to an out-of-season injury, but he made excitement by blocking spikes from opponent Anna Lazareva in succession.
Joo-a Lee, wearing Heungkuk Life Insurance’s uniform as the first round of the 2018-19 season, responded to director Park Mi-hee’s expectations by catching four blockings that day.
Coach Park said, “(Lee) Joo-a and (Kim) Chae-yeon are still young players, and the opponents were national team players.” I practiced a lot, but I got a lot of confusion. I hope this (victory) experience will help you to develop.”
Lee Joo-a was rather surprised to hear that he recorded 4 blockings through the club officials after the game.
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| Heungkuk Life Center Lee Joo-ah (right) is blocking Lazarevah’s attack. (Provided by the Korean Volleyball Federation) © News 1 |
He said, “Honestly, I didn’t know that I recorded 4 blocking,” and said, “I feel so good. It was good that I practiced it. Next to me, the (sisters) took the blocking position well,” he expressed his gratitude.
More than anything else, it was the support of the fans that made Lee Joa stronger. Since the end of November last year due to the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19), the V-League has been unattended since the end of November, and since the women’s playoffs, 10% of the spectators have visited the stadium.
Lee Joo-a smiled, “I was more energetic because I could hear the fans cheering after a long time.”
Meanwhile, Heungkuk Life is interested in whether he can advance to the championship by driving momentum as he captures the first game. It is 100% that the team that won the first leg in the previous playoffs has won the championship. Since the first year of the V-League, the team that won the first game all 15 times in total (including the first game of 5 matches and 3 best matches) stepped on the stage of the championship game.
The second match will be held on the 22nd at the Hwaseong Indoor Gymnasium, the home stadium of IBK.
Lee Joo-a expressed her wish that the team members would unite as one and produce good results, just like in the first game of the PO. He said, “I’m so happy to win the first game,” and “I hope that the next game will have a good result with the same mind.”
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| Heungkuk Life Center Lee Joo-ah. (Provided by the Korean Volleyball Federation) © News 1 |