Professional women’s volleyball outside hitter Park Hye-min (22, Jung Kwan-jang) has revealed her prospects as a next-generation attacker.Park had an alto-like performance with 13 points (52.17% attack success rate), including one block, against Heungkuk Life at Samsan World Gymnasium in Incheon on Sept. 26.When foreign player Giovanna Milana (registered name Zia) struggled with five points in the first and second sets, Park Hye-min provided firepower with six points.For Jung, Park’s performance was especially welcome as her main player Lee So-young has yet to return from shoulder surgery in April.The team came from behind to win the set 3-2 (21-25 26-28 25-22 25-7 18-16) with evenly matched performances from Megawatti Puttiwi (registered name Mega – 31 points), Giovanna Milana (registered name Gia – 20 points), Jung Ho-young (14 points), and Park Eun-jin (12 points).After the match, Park Hye-min said, “At the end of the second set, the coach told me, ‘This is not your strength, so don’t make a confident face. Think you can do it,’ so I got up and fought harder,” Park recalled.
When asked if they felt any pressure to take over from their senior, Lee So-young, they confidently said, “I’m not nervous at all.””Originally, I would have collapsed quickly because I was mentally weak, but now I am not anxious because I have practiced well in the off-season,” Park Hye-min said, adding, “I am playing volleyball while having fun with the idea that I just need to show what I have practiced.”Customized advice from head coach Ko Hee-jin also helped.Ko told Park, who is not very tall at 1.81 meters, to play “smart volleyball” instead of pushing hard.”When we practiced, if I tried to hit hard, he would say, ‘You can’t do that. You should play smart volleyball,'” she said, adding, “I’ve been watching my older sisters who are good at finesse (with the ball) and copying them.”In particular, she references the play of IBK’s Hwang Min-kyung and Korea Expressway Corporation’s Moon Jung-won, saying, “Min-kyung really likes to play with the ball. In defense, I watch her a lot and try to make it my own.””He’s a bit of a ‘tsundere’ (nonchalant caretaker),” 스포츠토토존 she said of Ko’s blunt style. No matter what he says, I take it well and do my best,” he said with a laugh.