Jeong Ji-seok is still desperate to win the championship

 

Outside heater Jung Ji-seok of Korean Air in men's professional volleyball flew from the first round of the championship game.

Korean Air, led by head coach Tommy Tilikainen, won the first round of the men's championship match against Dodram 2023-2024 V-League Postseason OK Financial Group at Gyeyang Gymnasium in Incheon on the 29th with a set score of 3-1 22-25 25-22 25-20 25-18.

According to the Korea Volleyball Federation KOVO, the winning team in the first round of the men's championship game of the all-time V-League postseason had a 72.2 percent chance of winning the championship game 13 times out of 18 seasons. Korean Air, which is aiming for its fourth consecutive win, won the first round of the championship game for the third consecutive year following the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 seasons.

The biggest contributor to the team's victory was Jung no matter what. Jung scored 31 points, the most in both teams, and suffered from OK Financial Group with an attack success rate of 67.7 percent. He failed to achieve the triple crown three each for back attack, blocking, and sub ace due to a lack of two serve aces, but Jung showed off the best performance in the 2023-2024 season.

Jung Ji-seok's most points in a single game this season were 22 points against OK Financial Group in the sixth round on the 10th. It is the first time in about two years that Jung Ji-seok has scored more than 30 points since 31 points in Game 3 of the championship game against KB Insurance on April 9, 2022.

On this day, Jung Ji-seok showed concentration from the first set and scored nine points, the most between the two teams. Although he could have lost his sense of play by taking a break for more than two weeks after the end of the regular league, Jung finished warming up early with his performance in the first set.

The flow continued into the second set. After scoring seven points in the second and third sets, Jung displayed his best performance with eight points in the fourth set. He wowed home fans by scoring goals whenever his team needed them. Coach Tilikainen, who worked passionately with the players throughout the game, also praised Jung, saying, "I had a hard time this season due to injury, but I think I proved myself."

Entering the interview room after the match, Jung said, "I liked the sense of immersion and nervousness as it was a big game. I felt like I could put on a performance." "I was fortunate to have won the game." "I could have put in a lot of strength, and in fact, I made a lot of mistakes in the first set. However, the older players showed skill in the second set, and I also did well thanks to the atmosphere."

"I did a lot of image training on my own and watched a lot of videos of OK Financial Group's playoff games. Honestly, from the momentum, I thought OK Financial Group would advance to the championship game," Jung said. "I thought I should block as many signal players as I thought would be the center of a sensation if I compete with OK Financial Group." The signal player's tempo has accelerated. As I put pressure on him, I think it was easier to let go of the game. The coach told me to just look at the signal players. I had no choice but to go because I would get nagged if I opened my eyes for a moment," he said with a smile.

Jung was unable to play properly due to his back injury in the early part of this season. There was a lot of regret, but Jung explained that he tried to focus on the game right in front of him. "I don't think I can explain more than to play in the championship game. The more I did it, the more I thought about what I didn't do in the regular league, and I forgot all about my motivation and entered the game with my confidence to the maximum, which led to a good result," he said.

"Personally, maybe because I got older, I started feeling sick last year, and I felt that taking care of my body is important. I'm confident in this area technically, but I paid more attention to that because it's important to create a physical condition to play," he added.

He has already experienced many things as a professional player. He won the MVP of the 2018-2019 and 2020-2021 seasons and even won the MVP of the championship game in the 2020-2021 seasons. He has been named the best seven on four occasions.

Despite this, Jung still wants to win the title. "Among our players, I think Han and Kwak Seung-seok are the most desperate. I don't know when I will be able to play as such a member, so I will do my best for my brothers and for my fans," he said. "Even if we did a good job today, six of us are playing volleyball, so we will never let our guard down and improve our physical condition to prepare well for the second round on the 31st."  토토사이트 추천