S.Korea - 2024-2025 V-League (Women)

    kim suji is regressing fast, chaeyon injury prone, jisu not good enough as main MB, yeah definitely better take chance with kim miyeon and choi eunji as KYK diagonal.

    And hope get a good OP that can solo carry the team like silva or diouf.

    Quote from Kofudakji

    kim suji is regressing fast, chaeyon injury prone, jisu not good enough as main MB, yeah definitely better take chance with kim miyeon and choi eunji as KYK diagonal.

    And hope get a good OP that can solo carry the team like silva or diouf.

    Somehow I mixed up Choi Eunji's position and thought she was an MB

    That makes sense since she is already filling the 2nd OH position, but based on Pink Spiders' matches last season, their biggest weakness was receives not so much blocking


    Effective blocks will always need improvement, but that can't help you win matches if you can't score

    Will they use their Asian Quarter MB to score more down the middle? Only then will it be a worthwhile draft pick that can help them stand a better chance of winning

    Quote from Kofudakji

    kim suji is regressing fast, chaeyon injury prone, jisu not good enough as main MB, yeah definitely better take chance with kim miyeon and choi eunji as KYK diagonal.

    And hope get a good OP that can solo carry the team like silva or diouf.

    I think in general a lot of the problems of Pink Spiders is that many of the players in the team cannot match with KYK. No setter, MB, or OH can be her "partner" in the court aside from the Foreign OPP (which again, depends on the player's condition). I still believe they need an OH because although Miyeon and Eunji are experienced, they have glaring weaknesses in receiving. Miyeon played as an opposite last year while Eunji is mostly benched.

    I do agree with the weaknesses of the MB roster of PS, but they aren't an MB-reliant team anyway, unlike Hyundai and Hi-Pass with Yang Hyo-jin and Bae Yoona.


    I believe their good offense with good receiving can offset their lack of defense, MB-wise.

    Quote from throwawayanyway

    Hmm. It is a mystery. :white:


    I also saw in some videos how the new Chinese MB hits the ball; it is not sharp or powerful.

    New? Huang Rui-lei and Zhang Yu are both old!

    Zhang Yu participated in the finals of 2015 WGP as the third MB.

    Huang Rui-lei participated in 2017 WCH as the member of Team ... D?

    My favourite roster of Chinese (in 2022)
    male NT:
    S - Yu Yao-chen, Chen Lei-yang
    OP - Jiang Chuan, Dai Qing-yao
    OH - Zhang Jing-yin, Yu Yuan-tai, Liu Li-bin, Fu Hou-wen
    MB - Zhang Zhe-jia, Peng Shi-kun, Li Yong-zhen, Jiang Zhen-yang
    L - Yang Yi-ming, Yang Tian-yuan


    female NT:
    S - Yao Di, Diao Lin-yu
    OP - Gong Xiang-yu, Sun Xiao-xuan
    OH - Li Ying-ying, Wang Yi-fan, Wu Meng-jie, Zhuang Yu-shan
    MB - Yuan Xin-yue, Wang Yuan-yuan, Zheng Yi-xin, Liu Yu
    L - Ni Fei-fan, Xu Jia-nan

    Quote from tomen

    New? Huang Rui-lei and Zhang Yu are both old!

    Zhang Yu participated in the finals of 2015 WGP as the third MB.

    Huang Rui-lei participated in 2017 WCH as the member of Team ... D?

    What I meant was, "new" as in a new member of Pink Spiders, who is of Chinese descent. I do know that she is not that young anymore, she was even interviewed by Korean media because of that fact (why she decided to try in KOVO despite her age). :D

    It seems that Gia Day may not play with Red Sparks this season:


    She will be playing in LOVB this coming season. Many Indonesian fans are disappointed (but quite supportive as well) as they really love Megawati and Gia duo. I wonder who Red Sparks will choose? Definitely still an OH.

    Quote from throwawayanyway

    I think in general a lot of the problems of Pink Spiders is that many of the players in the team cannot match with KYK. No setter, MB, or OH can be her "partner" in the court aside from the Foreign OPP (which again, depends on the player's condition).

    :white: before I jump to conclusions, I should ask what do you exactly mean by "cannot match with KYK" lol

    Volleyball has always been a team sport, and good players are good players because of individual ability to manage not because of having good teammates 🤧 i.e. spiking even poorly set balls


    All the good foreign OPP players have 'matched' with the poor standard of setting/play in v-league and performed impressively

    If you're implying she can only play/win with someone who can 'match' her then....... :gone:

    Quote from suminj

    :white: before I jump to conclusions, I should ask what do you exactly mean by "cannot match with KYK" lol

    Volleyball has always been a team sport, and good players are good players because of individual ability to manage not because of having good teammates 🤧 i.e. spiking even poorly set balls


    All the good foreign OPP players have 'matched' with the poor standard of setting/play in v-league and performed impressively

    If you're implying she can only play/win with someone who can 'match' her then....... :gone:

    Well, what I meant was, unlike when she was playing in Turkey, she is not with people of the same caliber so its not gonna be just smooth playing for her (setters making great sets most of the time, other OH receiving well, etc.).

    Our foreign player's draft list:



    I can see 3/4 players being renewed (Moma, Vanja and Silva) but Willow also had a good performance as well.


    Red Sparks will need an OH and IBK and Peppers will need an OPP (seems Abercrombie and Yasmeen didn't renew).


    Based on the list, I only know Chepchumba and she is really powerful.

    Kim Haeran's pregnancy and retirement makes me think back to if Tokyo Olympics hadn't been delayed to 2021 and took place in 2020 instead with the WC19 squad with Lavarini...


    She went ahead with family planning in 2020 in the end and it seems the return after pregnancy as well as age caught up in the end


    Also, if MVP Moma decides to stay with Hillstate, they're going to dominate yet another season

    Our foreign draft players for 2024 - 2025 season!



    Renewed:

    - Giselle Silva,OPP (Cuba) - GS Caltex

    - Laetitia Moma, OPP (Cameroon) - Hyundai Hillstate


    Renewed with new team:

    - Vanja Bukiric, OPP (Serbia) - Hi-Pass to Red Sparks


    New Players:

    - Barbara Dapic, OPP/OH (Croatia) - Peppers Savings Bank

    - Merelin Nikolova, OPP (Bulgaria) - Gimcheon Hi-Pass

    - Victoria Danchak, OPP (Ukraine) - IBK

    - Tuktu Burcu, OPP (Turkiye) - Pink Spiders


    Congrats to all the drafted players!


    Foreign Player Draft results are out


    #1 AI Pepper - Barbara Dapic (Croatia, 191cm, OP/OH)
    #2 Red Sparks - Vanja Bukilic (Serbia, 198cm, OP/OH) - previously HiPass, Hipass chose not to recontract
    #3 Hi-Pass - Merelin Nikolova (Bulgaria, 183cm, OP)
    #4 IBK - Viktoriia Danchak (Ukraine, 191cm, OP)
    #5 GS Caltex - Giselle Silva (Cuba, 191cm, OP) < Recontract
    #6 Pink Spider - Tutku Burcu (Turkey, 191cm, OP)
    #7 Hillstate - Moma (Cameroon, 184cm, OP) < Recontract


    According to news reports, clubs were not too satisfied with the players at the foreign player draft tryouts this year and options were few.

    Guess this is likely due to the growing market with LOVB & PVF drawing more players there instead of applying for Korea

    And from the picks, it seems like more than anything, clubs went for height over all else.


    News also implied that Red Sparks requested for more time to make their decision, perhaps they did not expect getting 2nd pick and were originally planning to recruit an OH since they had Megawati in OPP, but they ended up recruiting an OPP instead (who will play as OPP & who as OH?)


    Aside from RS, Pink Spiders also needed more time as reportedly all the players they were eyeing were drafted by other clubs.

    The draft is fair overall though, since Hillstate & Pink Spiders were first and second respectively

    What makes the skill level skewed is the ability to recontract with the previous foreign player which Hillstate struck gold with

    Just an update on KYY's retirement invitational 2024; here are the players to join her on June 8 - 9 (more players will be revealed in the future):



    DAY 01 (Retired Line-up):

    Pink Spiders: Kim Yeon Koung, Kim Suji, Do Soobin, Lim Hyerim and Park Hyejin

    Retired Players: Han Songhi, Kim Haeran


    DAY 02 (All-Star Line-up):

    Pink Spiders: Kim Yeon Koung, Kim Suji

    Brazilian Players: Sheila Castro, Natalia Pereira and Fabiana Claudino

    Japanese Player: Miyu Nagaoka

    Belgian Player: Helene Rousseaux

    Thailand: Pleumjit Thinkaow


    I'm kinda excited about this since a lot of her former teammates during her time in Turkey will also join her. More players will be invited during this time, and I kinda want to see Nootsara here (lol) or even Saori Kimura and Hui Ruoqui.