Hyundai Engineering & Construction

The Seattle Mariners in the U.S. Major League Baseball won 116 games in 162 regular league games thanks to the great performance of Ichiro Suzuki, who swept the 2001 regular league MVP and rookie award. This was the record for the most regular league wins in the history of the Major League, set by the Chicago Cubs in 1908. Seattle, which was the unrivaled No. 1 overall winning rate in the Major League, was considered a strong candidate for the World Series, but lost to the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series with 1 win and 4 losses, failing to even reach the World Series stage.

As such, there are unlucky teams that have a strong history in professional sports and rarely win despite performing well every season. In the women's V League, Hyundai Engineering & Construction Hillstate is a team that meets these conditions exactly. Hyundai Engineering & Construction has had an outstanding 82 wins and 41 losses in 125 games, including two regular league wins in the last four seasons, but has not been able to win the championship for the seventh season since the 2015-2016 season.

Hyundai Engineering & Construction also finished third, not winning, as its performance plummeted after the injury of foreign player Yasmin Vedart (Pepper Savings Bank AI Peppers) while winning 15 consecutive games after the opening of the season. Hyundai Engineering & Construction, which entered the race to recruit Kim Yeon-kyung (Heungguk Life Pink Spiders) after the season, did not get any results as Kim Yeon-kyung remained at Heungkuk Life Insurance. Will Hyundai Engineering & Construction, which has been empty-handed during the off-season for two consecutive seasons, be able to maintain its strong power this season.

Winning the Championship, which was blocked twice by Corona

As long as there is "living legend" Yang Hyo-jin, who is still strong in skills, no team will easily see Hyundai Engineering & Construction. Korea Volleyball Federation

For a team that did not perform well in the previous season to see its performance rise sharply next season, various favorable factors must come at once. Hyundai Engineering & Construction's 2021-2022 season was the season when several good news came at once. Foreign player Yasmin played his best, and Lee Da-hyun, in his third year as a professional, grew into a top middle blocker in the league in his first full-time starting season. Jung Ji-yoon, who turned into an outside heater after the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, also succeeded in changing his position by playing an active role as Hyundai Engineering & Construction's "special joker."

However, external conditions prevented Hyundai Engineering & Construction from taking the lead. Hyundai Engineering & Construction's chance to win its third championship was lost as the season ended early due to a surge in COVID-19 confirmed cases at the end of the season, when it was dominating with 27 wins and 3 losses in 30 games. As such, Hyundai Engineering & Construction unfortunately ended the season with only the title of "No. 1 in the regular league," not the winning team, even after an overwhelming season with the highest winning rate and the most points record ever in the 2021-2022 season.

Hyundai Engineering & Construction, which signed four internal FA players, including Yang Hyo-jin and Ko Ye-rim, and left Yasmin, a foreign player who showed his best performance ahead of the last season, seemed to wash away the regrets of the 2021-2022 season by winning 15 consecutive games. Even Heungkuk Life, where "Female" Kim Yeon-kyung returned, was no match for Hyundai Engineering & Construction. However, as foreign player Yasmin left midway through the third round due to a waist injury, Hyundai Engineering & Construction's perfect performance began to crack.

Yasmin, who was anxiously waiting for his return while watching the rehabilitation process, failed to return at the end, and Yvonne Montagno, who was recruited as a substitute, fell far short of Yasmin. Eventually, Hyundai Engineering & Construction, which started the season with 15 consecutive wins, fell to five wins and 15 losses in the last 15 games, giving up the top spot in the regular league to Heungkuk Life Insurance. And Hyundai Engineering & Construction was eliminated early in the playoffs after losing two consecutive games after slumping to just one set in two games against Korea Expressway Corporation High Pass.

The secret of Hyundai Engineering & Construction, which collapsed due to Yasmin's departure, being able to finish second in the regular league was also thanks to Yang Hyo-jin, the pillar of the team. Yang Hyo-jin, who played in 33 out of 36 regular league games, scored 523 points with a 50.3% success rate, and in a match against Pepper Savings Bank on March 5, he became the first male and female player to score 7,000 points. Yang Hyo-jin, who still maintains excellent scoring ability at the top of the league, is likely to set a greater record in the future.

Hyundai Engineering & Construction, which is still strong even though its power has weakened

Moma, who scored 1,698 points for GS Caltex in the past two seasons, will play in Hyundai Engineering & Construction's uniform this season. Hyundai Engineering & Construction Hillstate

Hyundai Engineering & Construction, which entered the race to recruit Kim Yeon-koung after the end of last season, was unable to prevent the team's important power from escaping because it cared about Kim Yeon-koung. "Minky" Hwang Min-kyung, a housekeeper of Hyundai Engineering & Construction and the leader of the court, became an FA and transferred to IBK Industrial Bank Altos. Another outside heater, Ko Ye-rim, also underwent surgery on both knees after the season, and Hyundai Engineering & Construction lost two outside heaters who had both offense and defense this season.

Hyundai Engineering & Construction, whose left side was greatly weakened due to Hwang Min-kyung's transfer and Ko Ye-rim's surgery, won the second pick in the Asian quarter draft and selected Thailand's national outside heater Wipawi Sithong. Wipawi is 174 centimeters tall and is not that tall, but he played in the Olympic qualifying round in September and performed like Altoran in offense and defense. Coach Kang Sung-hyung is already planning to entrust Wipawi with one of Hyundai Engineering & Construction's main outside heaters this season.

Hyundai Engineering & Construction, which gave up renewing its contract with Yasmin, who had been troubled by injury last season, again chose Letizia Moma Vasoko, who was verified in the league through the foreign player draft. Moma, who ranked No. 1 in scoring (819 points) and attack success rate (47.30%) in the 2021-2022 season when he was at GS Caltex, slowed down (?) to No. 2 in scoring (879 points) and attack success rate (43.68%) last season, but he is still considered one of the best in the league. If his skills are not rusty or there is no injury issue, he is expected to perform well this season. 스포츠토토

Hyundai Engineering & Construction, which dropped out of the national team after another outside heater, Jung Ji-yoon suffered a ruptured ankle ligament, is inevitable to have Jung Ji-yoon's early absence. Jung Si-young and Hwang Min-kyung's compensation player Kim Joo-hyang will fill Jung Ji-yoon's place, but Jung Si-young and Kim Joo-hyang's receiving efficiency last season was 36.29% and 26.23%, respectively. Hyundai Engineering & Construction cannot rule out the possibility that Ko Min-ji, who played as a libero for KGC Ginseng Corporation (currently the president of Jeonggwanjang Red Sparks) last season, will play as an outside heater.

Hyundai Engineering & Construction, which has many negative factors such as Hwang Min-kyung's transfer, Ko Ye-rim's surgery, and Jung Ji-yoon's injury, is considered somewhat weaker than the last two seasons. However, Hyundai Engineering & Construction still has the main setter (Kim Da-in), the main setter (Kim Yeon-kyeon), the best middle blocker combination (Yang Hyo-jin-Lee Da-hyun), the Thai national team (Wipawi) and the league's top foreign player (Moma). This is why Hyundai Engineering & Construction cannot stop its challenge to win the championship again this season.