What a waste it would be if Kim Yeon-kyung were to retire like this

Kim Yeon-kyung attended the professional volleyball awards ceremony last year.

• The Professional Volleyball 2023-2024 V-League Awards Ceremony will be held at 4 PM on the 8th.

This is the first time that ‘Volleyball Empress’ Kim Yeon-kyung (36, Heungkuk Life Insurance) makes her official appearance after the 2023-2024 season championship match.

Kim Yeon-kyung is in a situation where she is in a dilemma about whether or not she will retire.

Just as he announced his intention to extend his career as a player at the awards ceremony last year, there is a possibility that he will talk about what conclusion he reached this year as well.

• Heungkuk Life Insurance won the 1st and 2nd sets against Hyundai Engineering & Construction in the first game of the 2023-2024 Championship, but lost the 3rd and 5th sets, losing 2-3 (25-18, 25-14, 20-25, 20-25) , 14-16) suffered a comeback defeat.

This was the third time in the women’s championship game that a set score of 2-0 ended in 2-3, following the 3rd game of the 2010-2011 season and the 3rd game of the 2012-2013 season.

The opposing team in the 2010-2011 season championship, in which Hyundai Engineering & Construction won, was Heungkuk Life Insurance, just like this season, and the team that lost 2-3 (25-21, 25-12, 18-25, 24-26, 11-15) was also Heungkuk. It was life. In the 2012-2013 season, IBK Industrial Bank, which had won two games in a row, took two sets from GS Caltex first, but lost 2-3 (25-21, 25-16, 16-25, 24-26, 7-15) and lost 4 games. We had to play until the second game.

• Did this defeat raise Kim Yeon-kyung’s ‘anger gauge’?

Kim Yeon-kyung attempted attacks 47 times in her second game, the most on her team, leaving her with an efficiency of 0.553.

In the history of the women’s championship, the only player who left a higher offensive efficiency as the team’s first option for attack was GS Caltex Betty (37, Dominican Republic, 0.656) in the first game of the 2008-2009 season.

At the time, Betty was 14 years younger than Kim Yeon-kyung and attempted 32 attacks, 15 less. Also, Betty, an offer spiker (right), never received the opponent’s serve. Outside hitter (left) Kim Yeon-kyung received the opponent’s serve 22 times (tied for second on the team), leaving a receiving efficiency of 40.9%. For reference, Heungkuk Life Insurance libero (defensive specialist) Kim Hae-ran (40) had a receiving efficiency of 41.2% in this game.

• However, the result was a 2-3 (25-23, 21-25, 25-21, 17-25, 13-15) defeat.

Heungkuk Life Insurance again lost 2-3 (25-22, 17-25, 25-23, 23-25, 7-15) in the third game, giving the championship trophy to Hyundai Engineering & Construction.

Meanwhile, this season, Heungkuk Life Insurance became the first team in professional volleyball history to finish in runner-up despite winning the first set throughout the championship.

Heungkuk Life Insurance is also the first to end in full set losses in games 1 to 3 in the women’s championship, which was played with 3 wins out of 5.

• Kim Yeon-kyung finished the three championship games this season with an offensive efficiency of 0.365.

This is the 9th highest record among players who were responsible for more than 25% of the team’s total attack attempts during the championship period.

Considering only domestic players, there are only four cases in which the offensive efficiency was higher than this in the championship game, and two of them were ‘Kim Yeon-kyung of the past’.

And of course, none of them ever took off their uniforms the following season.

If Kim Yeon-kyung really chooses to retire, it would be the most regrettable retirement case in professional volleyball history.

Of course, no matter what choice she makes, fans will support Kim Yeon-kyung’s choice. 고스톱