Men’s professional volleyball KEPCO has stepped up to ‘Spring Volleyball’ with a thrilling come-from-behind victory.
KEPCO won with a set score of 3-2 (20-25 25-15 18-25 25-20 15-12) in the home game against Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance in the men’s professional volleyball Dodram 2022-2023 V-League held at Suwon Gymnasium in Gyeonggi-do on the 19th. 스포츠토토
When Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance won the set first, KEPCO, which immediately followed, won the last 5 sets and won a valuable victory. Thais less host (registered name Thais) scored 29 points, the most in the team, and Seo Jae-deok also led the attack with 20 points.
KEPCO overpowered Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance 17-7 in the blocking match. Among them, Shin Young-seok caught 3 blocks, increasing the record for the most blocks ever in the V-League. In addition, Shin Young-seok played an active part with 10 points, adding 7 successful attacks and 3 sub-aces.
13 years since his professional debut, Shin Young-seok’s unchanging performance
Shin Young-seok is a ‘living legend’ in men’s professional volleyball. He recently ranked first in blocks for five consecutive seasons, and his career blocks are also ranked first in history with 1127. He has already become an old man in his mid-30s, but he is running to the top of the block this season, overtaking his younger juniors.
Except for his military service period, he has never missed the V-League Best 7 Middle Blocker Award since the 2016-2017 season, and has ranked first in the All-Star Game fan vote for 3 consecutive seasons, combining skill and popularity. In 2014, he played an active part in the Incheon Asian Games as a national team member and won a bronze medal.
Shin Young-seok stood out from his college days, following Kim Sang-woo, Bang Shin-bong, and Lee Seon-gyu as the national middle blocker. He was gifted with various talents, such as being 200 cm tall, the ability to read opponents’ attacks and create effective blocks, and a powerful serve.
Shin Young-seok, who started his professional career by being nominated by Woori Capital, the predecessor of Woori Card, in the 2008 rookie draft, made a splendid debut by winning the rookie award with performances that matched his expectations.
Shin Young-seok, who moved to Hyundai Capital in the 2014-2015 season, opened his heyday in earnest. He led the league to first place in the regular league and won the championship game twice, and in particular, in the 2017-2018 season, he enjoyed the honor of being named the MVP of the regular league for the first time as a middle blocker. In the voting at that time, Shin Young-seok performed brilliantly, getting 23 out of 29 votes.
The middle blocker, whose biggest job is to block the opponent’s attack, is not a prominent role in volleyball. However, Shin Young-seok proved that even a middle blocker can become a team leader and even the best star in the league.
Shin Young-seok, ‘Leader of the Court’ leading KEPCO’s rebound
Shin Young-seok changed his uniform when KEPCO, which wanted to reinforce the center line for the 2020-2021 season, recruited him through a trade with Hyundai Capital.
In KEPCO, Shin Young-seok’s performance has not changed. However, due to his team’s weak power, he could not guarantee to advance to spring volleyball, let alone win. This season has been particularly difficult. At the end of last year, KEPCO suffered a whopping 9 consecutive losses and fell to the bottom, and Shin Young-seok could not be free from responsibility for the sluggish performance.
However, KEPCO is currently the hottest team in the men’s division. In the new year, he won 7 wins in 10 games, successfully rebounding, and jumped to 4th place at once. Even after playing one less game, there is no difference in points with Woori Card in 3rd place, so we are looking at a higher place.
In the match against Woori Card on January 10, Shin Young-seok broke KEPCO’s 9-game losing streak with miraculously blocking attacks from Riverman Agamez and Na Gyeong-bok in the last 5-set deuce match.
As the regular season entered its final stages, every match became as important as the final. The more that happens, the heavier Shin Young-seok’s shoulders are. There is Park Cheol-woo, who is the captain of the team and a “one-year senior,” but Shin Young-seok has to act as the de facto leader on the court as opportunities to play are dwindling.
For Shin Young-seok, who has achieved everything as an individual player, the only goal left is to lift the championship trophy once more at KEPCO. Attention is focusing on how far Shin Young-seok, who is active as the best middle blocker in his 13th year of professional debut, will raise Korea’s power.