[Women’s volleyball] 4.6 billion won investment in FA contract with 4 players, Park Jeong-ah 3 years, 2.325 billion won
‘Clutch Park’, who led the road construction championship, left Gimcheon and decided to run to Gwangju.
Pepper Savings Bank AI Peppers announced on the 17th that it had signed contracts with four players in the FA market through official SNS. Park Jung-ah received the same treatment as the ’empress’ Kim Yeon-kyung (Heungkuk Life Insurance Pink Spiders) for a total of 2.325 billion won over 3 years, including an annual average of 775 million won, and Lee Han-bi received a total of 1 billion won over 3 years. 60 million won, Libero Oh Ji-young signed a contract for 3 years, 1 billion won, and outside hitter Chae Sun-ah signed a 3-year, 300 million won contract.
In fact, Pepper Savings Bank’s bold investment in this FA market was already predicted. This is because Pepper Savings Bank has built a team centered on young players for the past two seasons since its foundation, but has brought about a disappointing result of unrivaled last two seasons in a row. Pepper Savings Bank, which has significantly increased its power through a bold investment of nearly 5 billion won in the FA market, has emerged as a dark horse in the V-League next season at once.
Pepper Savings Bank, 3 wins in 31 matches to 5 wins
in 36 matches, and only 3 wins in 31 matches in the 2021-2022 season. Of course, Pepper Savings Bank’s 5 wins was a meaningful achievement achieved amidst various adverse events such as the resignation of manager Kim Hyeong-sil, the injury of No. In fact, in the 5th round, Pepper Savings Bank produced a surprise by defeating the top-ranked Hyundai Engineering & Construction Hillstate and Korea Expressway Corporation Hi-Pass in turn.
However, the results of the 2022-2023 season of Pepper Savings Bank are by no means satisfactory. Pepper Savings Bank set a goal of 10 victories before the start of the season, but after the start of the season, they managed to win only one point, let alone win in 17 games. At least, 4 out of 5 wins in the season were not possible without the performance of foreign player Nia Reid, so the performance and support of domestic players was disappointing. The ‘pepper powder’ sprinkled on Hyundai E&C and Expressway Corporation in the 5th round did not have a significant impact on the spring volleyball competition as a result.
Pepper Savings Bank recruited setter Lee Go-eun from the FA market ahead of the 2022-2023 season, and brought in veteran libero Oh Ji-young during the season. In fact, throughout the season, Lee Go-eun setter worked hard as Pepper Savings Bank’s built-in setter, attempting 3368 sets and making 10.06 toss per set. The excellent defense, which recorded 3.26 digs per set, was also a great help to the team, but Pepper Savings Bank’s power did not noticeably improve with the addition of setter Lee Go-eun.
Oh Ji-young Libero is a player who was recruited at the end of 2022 by giving away the first round pick for the 2024-2025 season. Of course, Libero Oh Ji-young is a veteran libero with abundant experience and proven skills to the extent that he won first place in the dig category at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. However, even among volleyball fans, opinions were divided as to whether it was the right choice to give up the first-round pick two years later and recruit a veteran libero in his mid-30s in a situation where it was still unpredictable what level of large prospect would emerge.
As a result, Pepper Savings Bank did not make a big turn even after Lee Go-eun and Oh Ji-young joined. Pepper Savings Bank also jumped in before recruiting Kim Yeon-kyung after the season, as many clubs did, but Kim Yeon-kyung, who was contemplating between his retirement and active service extension, chose to remain in Heungkuk Life. However, Pepper Savings Bank immediately launched ‘Plan B’ and succeeded in signing four players, including Park Jung-ah, ‘the second big fish in the FA market’.
Park Jeong-ah Pepper Enters 5 Championship Rings
If you ask the coaches of the seven clubs which one they would like to recruit, Kim Yeon-kyung or Park Jung-ah, most coaches would probably choose Kim Yeon-kyung. This is because Kim Yeon-kyung has excellent defense that Park Jung-ah does not have, stable serve receiving, and rich experience through numerous international competitions and European stages. However, in terms of attack power and concentration, Park Jung-ah is the only striker who can compare to Kim Yeon-kyung in the current V-League.
In fact, Park Jung-ah won the championship three times at IBK Industrial Bank of Korea Altos and twice at Expressway Corporation, and holds the tie record for the most wins by an active player along with Lim Myung-ok (Highway Corporation) and Hwang Yeon-ju (Hyundai E&C). Of course, it is still unknown whether Park Jung-ah, who was exempted from sub-receive at the road construction, will participate in receive at Pepper Savings Bank. But if Park Jung-ah can focus solely on her offense like she did during her road construction days, it’s not easy to find a striker as fearsome as her in her league.
Capturing captain Lee Han-bi is also very good news for Pepper Savings Bank. Hanbi Lee, who scored 262 points with a success rate of 30.13% in 31 games in the 2021-2022 season, scored 439 points with a success rate of 34.4% in 36 games in the 2022-2023 season. Above all, the receiving efficiency, which was only 29.35%, has improved to 39.23%, and has grown into an outside heater recognized by others. Lee Han-bi is expected to play an active role as a native pair of Park Jung-ah and Pepper Savings Bank next season.안전놀이터
As a stable defense is the shortcut to a strong team, it was not a bad choice to renew the contract with Oh Ji-young as a libero and recruit Chae Seon-ah, an outside hitter with good defense. Oh Ji-young, who has not only a proven defense but also leadership to take care of young players on the court, can be a great help to Pepper Savings Bank as his eldest sister. Chae Seon-ah, who can even play the role of a libero in some cases, will also be of no small help in strengthening Pepper Savings Bank’s player base.
The remaining task for Pepper Savings Bank, which succeeded in raising its power through the FA contract, is the draft of foreign players scheduled for May 13th. This year’s foreign player draft will be held face-to-face for the first time in four years since 2019 in Turkey, Istanbul. In this foreign player draft, selecting a player who has excellent skills and matches the team color of Pepper Savings Bank will be the first task given to new coach Aachen Kim, who has been appointed to Pepper Savings Bank.
