‘Will the 180cm No. 1 pick finally shine?’ IBK, the ‘public enemy,’ deploys V-League’s first ethnic Korean setter; Men’s division set for clash with Chinese national team stars

*This content was translated by AI.View Original

Audrey Park (24, Korean name: Park Hye-rin), the first ethnic Korean player with foreign nationality in V-League history and the overall No. 1 pick setter in the rookie draft, is on the verge of her debut.

The match drawing the most attention at the start of this week’s V-League season is the showdown between IBK Industrial Bank of Korea and Hyundai Construction at the Hwaseong Comprehensive Indoor Gymnasium on the 3rd. IBK Industrial Bank of Korea, led by head coach Manabe Masayoshi (63), received intense scrutiny from other teams during the women’s division media day, even earning the label of ‘public enemy.’

At the rookie draft on the 28th of last month, an unexpected roster reinforcement was achieved. IBK Industrial Bank of Korea, which had a 20% probability of securing the overall No. 1 pick, selected setter Audrey Park (24, Korean name: Park Hye-rin), who attended UCLA in the United States. Standing at 180cm, Audrey Park served as UCLA’s starting setter before playing for Columbus Fury in the U.S. professional volleyball league, Major League Volleyball (MLV). She made her mark in V-League history by being selected as the overall No. 1 pick in the first year that ethnic Korean players with foreign nationality were permitted to participate in the draft.

The issue is time. With less than a week between the draft and the first game, it was difficult for her to sufficiently coordinate with the attackers. It remains to be seen how head coach Manabe, a former elite setter, will utilize the new tall setter and whether she will immediately receive a debut opportunity. Hyundai Construction also faces them with a new lineup. After Yang Hye-jin (37), who had guarded the middle position for a long time, retired, the team signed veteran Bae Yoo-na (37). With the addition of new foreign player Jordan Wilson (23, registered name: Jordan) and returning Asian quota player Mega, they have built a different roster from before.

In the men’s division, the matchup between Samsung Fire and Hyundai Capital at the Daejeon Chungmu Gymnasium on the 5th is drawing attention. Wang Bin (25, Samsung Fire) and Zhang Quan (32, Hyundai Capital), who played together on the Chinese national team this year, will clash wearing different uniforms.

The junior, Wang Bin, has left a strong impression first. The 196cm outside hitter exploded for a team-high 35 points in his V-League debut against KB Insurance on the 1st. He recorded an attack percentage of 44.44% and an attack success rate of 63.46%, scoring 11 points from back-row attacks alone.

Samsung Fire, which finished at the bottom last season, signed head coach Tomi Tilkkanen (39), who led Korean Air to a league championship. With Wang Bin joining and veteran setter Yoo Gwang-woo (41) orchestrating the offense, the team showed a changed appearance from its first game.

On the other hand, 205cm opposite Zhang Quan recorded 15 points in the opening match against Korean Air on the 31st of last month but could not prevent his team’s 0-3 defeat. For Hyundai Capital, which achieved a treble in the 2024-2025 season before losing the championship to Korean Air last season, restoring its pride is essential.

On the same day in Gwangju, SOOP Supers will play their first home game under their new team name. SOOP, which launched after acquiring Pepper Savings Bank AI Peppers, will face Korea Expressway Corporation at SOOP Stadium on the 5th. The inaugural head coach is Kim Se-jin (52), who previously led OK Savings Bank in the men’s division to two championship finals titles.

The start was not good. They lost 0-3 on the road against Heungkuk Life on the 1st. The team faced difficulties in roster composition due to injuries to players such as Park Eun-seo and Seo Ji-hye. Fortunately, the performance of foreign player Odriana Fitzmorris (29, registered name: Odriana) was welcome. Odriana, who had been absent from the Yeosu KOVO Cup due to dizziness, scored a team-high 15 points against Heungkuk Life. Their opponent, Korea Expressway Corporation, also lost its opening match against GS Caltex and is in need of its first win.

At the Incheon Gyeoyang Gymnasium on the 6th, two attackers from the Canadian national team will face off with their pride at stake. The protagonists are Jander Ketzinski (26, registered name: Ketzinski) of Korean Air and Sharon Vernon Evans (28, registered name: Show) of KEPCO. Both players served as opposites on the Canadian national team, but they hold different roles in the V-League.

Ketzinski, standing at 207cm, has transformed into an outside hitter for Korean Air. Following head coach Henan Dal Joto’s (66) plan, he takes the court simultaneously with Im Dong-hyuk (27), raising the height of the attack. The change was successful. He scored 25 points in the Yeosu KOVO Cup final to claim Most Valuable Player (MVP) and contributed to a 3-0 victory over Hyundai Capital in the V-League opening match.

Show, standing at 206cm, is already a proven power hitter. Last season, he appeared in 139 sets across 36 games, scoring 862 points to win the scoring title. He also ranked second in that category with an average of 0.42 service aces per set. KEPCO has signed setter Lee Min-gyu (34) and Asian quota player Usman Fayad Ali (27, registered name: Usman), who is from the Pakistani national team, under new head coach Seok Jin-wook (50). With the growth of rookie Yoon Ha-jun (20) added to this, they are preparing a new attacking combination.

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*This content was translated by AI.View Original