Motivation for 4 consecutive wins, Korean Air vs. momentum with experience, OK Financial Group with the best foreign player of all time… Keywords that will dominate the championship

Experience or momentum? These are the two keywords that will dominate the 2023-2024 V-League men’s championship match (3 wins out of 5).

Korean Air, ranked 1st in the regular league, and OK Financial Group, ranked 3rd, will play the first round of the championship match at Gyeyang Gymnasium in Incheon on the 29th.

Korean Air, which devoured all of the regular league and championship matches from the 2020-2021 season to last season, is challenging its 4th consecutive overall championship, an unprecedented achievement. In the past, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance succeeded in winning the championship game seven times in a row from the 2007-2008 season to the 2013-2014 season, but the longest period of combined championships by winning first place in the regular league and the championship game was three consecutive years. If Korean Air defeats OK Financial Group in this championship game, it will write a new history.

Korean Air seemed to miss out on first place in the regular league this season, performing somewhat worse than the previous three seasons due to injuries to key players. Woori Card, which was capable of winning on its own, lost the last two games of the season, and Korean Air dramatically succeeded in winning its fourth straight regular league game. The label ‘fisherman’s story’ may follow, but history only remembers the results.

Korean Air finished the KB Insurance match on the 14th and did its best to manage its condition by resting sufficiently for the championship match. Compared to OK Financial Group, which advanced through three games from the semi-playoffs to the playoffs, Korean Air clearly has an advantage in terms of physical strength.

Korean Air sent out foreign player Murad Khan (Pakistan) and brought in Maksim Zhigarov (Russia) to win the overall championship for the fourth time in a row. Maxim is a 2m3 left-handed Apogee Spiker who played for the Russian national team and won the European Championship in 2015 and 2017. In addition to the Russian domestic league, he played in various leagues such as Poland and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and until recently played in the Qatari league. In the Qatar League, he ranked first in scoring and second in serving.

The biggest advantage Korean Air has over OK Financial Group is its experience of winning the championship in all three seasons. Under the stable attack coordination of Han Sun-soo and Yoo Kwang-woo, a duo of the same age group born in 1985 who are considered the best setters in active play, the outside hitter lineup of Kwak Seung-seok, Ji-seok Jeong, and Han-yong Jeong are armed with stable receiving and explosive attack power. Apogit Lim Dong-hyuk, who can be said to be the main contributor to Korean Air’s first place in the regular league this season, is also poised to lead the team’s attack along with Maxim.

OK Financial Group’s last championship experience before this championship must go back to the 2015-2016 season, eight years ago. Although the team as a whole is clearly inferior to Korean Air in terms of experience in big games, starting setter Kwak Myeong-woo, who led the team to two consecutive championship wins in 2014-2015 and 2015-2016, as well as outside heater Song Hee-chae and libero Jeong Seong-hyun, remain, providing know-how to young players. Experience may not be such a big problem if you pass it on.

The part where OK Financial Group is ahead of Korean Air is momentum. The team’s atmosphere is at its peak as they dramatically beat Hyundai Capital 3-2 in the semi-playoff match and ended the playoffs with two wins. After the second round of the playoffs on the 25th, Song Hee-chae said, “Playing today brought back good memories from 8 years ago. “There is an atmosphere within the team that it is worth trying,” he explained.

In addition, the presence of Leo, who is considered the best foreign player in V-League history, is also significant. Leo, who won the championship twice as a member of the Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance dynasty in his early 20s, is a player whose power doubles in big games. Korean Air also has strikers such as Maksim, Lim Dong-hyuk, and Jeong Ji-seok, who are still a mystery, but it is evaluated that OK Financial Group, which has Leo, is ahead in the battle of the ace who can be trusted most in clutch situations. Leo is a player whose power does not drop at all even when he takes charge of the team’s attack alone, having recorded an attack share of 77% in one game. In short-term matches, the presence or absence of a clear ace determines the outcome, so if Leo explodes, it is possible for OK Financial Group to achieve V3 in 8 years.

Reporter Nam Jeong-hoon [email protected]

[ⓒ 세계일보 & Segye.com, 무단전재 및 재배포 금지]