OK Financial Group is determined to win the professional volleyball championship against Korean Air.
OK Financial Group won 3-0 (25-15 25-15 25-15 25-19) against Woori Card in the second round of the men’s playoffs (best-of-three) of the Dodram 2023-2024 V-League at Sangroksu Gymnasium in Ansan on Friday.
With the semifinals and playoffs behind them, OK Financial Group advanced to the highly anticipated championship match (best-of-five). OK Financial Group will face off against Korean Air, the No. 1 team in the regular season, on May 29th.
After winning the 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 championships, OK Financial Group is aiming for its third crown in eight seasons.
On the day, OK Financial Group’s Bayarsaihan (13 points) and Leo (12 points), as well as Shin Seong-jin (9 points), Jin Sang-heon (9 points), and Song Hee-chae (8 points), all had solid performances.
In particular, Bayarsaihan played a key role in breaking down the opponent’s defensive organization with her powerful serves early in the match.
“It’s my first season in Korea and we faced a good team, so it feels good to be in the championship match,” said Bayarsaihan. We don’t have one player who is good, we are all working as a team to win,” said Bayarsayhan.
“I heard that’s an all-time postseason record,” Bayarsaihan said of her 10th consecutive service game. Sometimes it goes well, sometimes it doesn’t, but today I had a good feeling after I hit my first serve, and from the second, the girls did a great job of blocking and converting what came our way, so I was able to keep that feeling.”
Song Hee-chae was also delighted. “Personally, I am honored and proud to come back to OK Financial Group and play in the championship match,” Song said.
Setter Kwak Myung-woo said, “It feels great to be in the championship match after a long time, and I have many memories of the past. It’s meaningful. Like the coach said, I think we won as a team,” said Kwak.
Song Hee-chae and Kwak Myung-woo were the main players in OK Financial Group’s second consecutive championship match.
“I still have good memories of that time. When I started playing ‘Spring Volleyball,’ I was reminded of that time because there were good players who played with me, so I thought it was worth trying this spring volleyball. Jung Sung-hyun, the winning member at that time, also contributed to the good atmosphere.”
“The senior players have experience, and they make good judgments in difficult situations,” said Kwak Myung-woo. The players have faith in each other, and the synergy is coming out.”
After focusing on the playoffs, the OK Financial Group players have now started to keep an eye on Korean Air, especially Korean Air’s foreign player Maksim, who arrived in Korea shortly after the championship game.
“I looked for videos of Maksim on YouTube,” says Bayarsayhan. There were only videos from five or six years ago. But that’s okay because we have the best mercenary, Leo. I will only trust Leo and work hard to prepare for the championship match.”
Song Hee-chae said, “I heard that Korean Air has a new foreign player. We will talk a lot about Korean Air after today,” she added.