Kim Yeon-kyung, the second unanimous MVP in professional volleyball history… 5th award
‘Volleyball Empress’ Kim Yeon-kyung (35, Heungkuk Life Insurance) and Korean Air’s main setter Han (37) were selected as the best male and female best players (MVP) in the professional volleyball regular league.
Kim Yeon-kyung won the honor of regular league MVP for the second time in her history at the Dodram 2022-2023 Season V-League Awards Ceremony held at the Grand Hyatt Seoul Hotel in Yongsan-gu, Seoul on the 10th.
Han became the first setter to win the men’s regular league MVP trophy.
Kim Yeon-kyung swept all 31 votes from the reporters.
It is the second time in history that the unanimous regular league MVP came out in the V-League after Lee Jae-young (then Heungkuk Life Insurance) in the 2018-2019 season.
In addition, Kim Yeon-kyung won her 5th MVP of her personal career, rewriting her record for the most awards ever.
Yang Hyo-jin (Hyundai E&C), Lee Jae-young, and Lee Hyo-hee (Korea Expressway Corporation) took second place with the most awards in the women’s division, winning twice each.
In the men’s division, OK Financial Group striker Leonardo Leyva Martinez (registered name Leo) won three times.
This is the part where you can see how overwhelming Kim Yeon-kyung’s record for the most awards is.
Kim Yeon-kyung won the regular league MVP for three consecutive seasons from the 2005-2006 season to the 2007-2008 season when she played for Heungkuk Life Insurance, and was also named MVP in the 2020-2021 season when she returned from overseas.
Last season, she played in the Chinese League and came back after a year to win the MVP again.
Kim Yeon-kyung literally achieved the best results. She led the team’s offense, ranking first in attack success rate (45.76%), first in timed offense (61.29%), fourth in open offense (40.96%), and fifth in most points (669 points).
Kim Yeon-kyung also had a great influence on the fever of the V-League. Kim Yeon-kyung attracted cloud spectators regardless of home or away.
Heungkuk Life Insurance was caught by Korea Expressway Corporation in the championship match and won the runner-up, but Kim Yeon-kyung was well qualified for MVP.
This is the third time that the MVP of the regular league has emerged from a non-winning team in the women’s division.
In 2005, the first year of the launch of professional volleyball, Hyundai Engineering & Construction’s Dae-Young Jung (now Korea Expressway Corporation), the third-place team at the time, received the MVP. In the 2020-2021 season, Kim Yeon-kyung also received the honor of MVP, although her team Heungkuk Life Insurance only finished runner-up.
Kim Yeon-kyung said, “It would have been nice if I had received the MVP in the championship game, but it’s a pity.”
It seems that he was referring to former manager Kwon Soon-chan’s hardship in the middle of the season.
Kim Yeon-kyung continued, “I’m thinking about continuing my career as a player in the future, but if I do more, I will work hard to show a good figure at the top.”
Regarding the unanimous MVP award, he said, “I am personally honored,” and “It would have been difficult to come up here without the support of the fans.”
Han, a veteran setter, received 19 out of 31 votes from the press and enjoyed the MVP honor for the first time.
He greatly outperformed Leo with 6 votes and Jung Ji-seok (Korean Air) with 4 votes.
Heo Soo-bong of Hyundai Capital and Lim Dong-hyuk of Korean Air received one vote each.
It is the first time that a setter has been named MVP in the V-League men’s division from 2005, the first year, to this season.
In the women’s division, there is a case in which Korea Expressway Corporation coach Lee Hyo-hee received the regular league MVP as a setter in the 2013-2014 season and 2014-2015 season during his active career.
Player Han recorded 3rd place in sets (9.86 per set) in the regular league this season, and contributed to the combined victory by commanding Korean Air’s powerful firepower in the championship match.
Player Han, the MVP of the championship match, also set a record of winning the 9th MVP in the men’s division at the same time.
Player Han said, “The final goal is to win 4 consecutive championships,” and “I will do my best to achieve the goal.”
In addition, he said, “Every season is difficult as I get older, but I am grateful that I can live as a player every day,” and “I will work hard until the last day I can play volleyball.”
Kim Yeon-kyung and Han received 5 million won in MVP prize money each.
Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance middle blocker Kim Jun-woo (18 votes) beat Hyundai Capital setter Lee Hyeon-seung (13 votes) by a narrow margin and won the male rookie award.
The female rookie award went to KGC Ginseng Corporation Libero Choi Hyo-seo (17 votes).
It is the first time in the V-League that a player in the libero position has been awarded the Rookie of the Year award.
Kim Jun-woo and Choi Hyo-seo each received 2 million won in prize money.
The best player by position, the best 7 yen Men’s KEPCO’s foreign players, Thais Deul Host (registered name: Thais) and Jeong Ji-seok, took two positions as outside heaters.
OK Financial Group’s Leo was named the Apposite Spiker, while Shin Young-seok (KEPCO) and Choi Min-ho (Hyundai Capital) were selected as the middle blockers.
Hwang Taek-eui (KB Insurance) was selected as the setter. One player, the MVP of the regular league, was not named.
Unlike Kim Yeon-kyung in the women’s division, Santana (IBK Industrial Bank of Korea, registered name Santana), Apposite Spiker, Elizabeth Ine Barga (KGC Ginseng Corporation, registered name Elisabeth), middle blocker Yang Hyo-jin (Hyundai E&C), and Bae Yoo-na (Korea) road construction) was selected.
Yang Hyo-jin has been honored for 9 consecutive seasons since the 2014-2015 season, when the best 7 began to be selected.
He humbly expressed his feelings, saying, “I was lucky to receive the award this season as well.”
Da-in Kim of Hyundai E&C was the setter, and Lim Myung-ok of the Korea Expressway Corporation was the libero.
All 14 faces of glory received 2 million won in prize money each.
The best 7 men and women were selected with 60% of votes (10% of experts, 40% of media, 10% of directors and captains) and 40% of records.
Coach Tommy Tilikhainen, who put Korean Air at the top of the men’s division following last season, and Kim Jong-min, who overturned the evaluation of being weak and led Korea Expressway Corporation to victory in the women’s championship match, each received the main character of the coach award. The prize money for the director award is 3 million won. 안전놀이터
Coach Jong-min Kim drew attention by revealing his feelings, “I pay my respects to the Heungkuk Life Insurance team, the opponent team in the championship match.”
The Fair Play Award was awarded to KGC Ginseng Corporation in the women’s division and Korea Electric Power Corporation in the men’s division, and Jaehyo Choi and Eunji Hwang were selected as judges.