No second heartbreak. Woori Card setter Han Tae-joon (20) led the team to victory against Korean Air.
Woori Card won the Dodram 2023-2024 V-League Men’s Round 6 match against Korean Air 3-0 in straight sets on Saturday at Gyeyang Gymnasium in Incheon, South Korea. Woori Card (22-11, 66 points) moved within one point of Korean Air (22-12, 67 points). With the win, Woori Card has a chance to clinch the title on its own.
Woori Card’s Han Tae-joon shined. Taejoon Han was steady and accurate with his ball distribution. He also made good attack choices to get past opposing blockers. Coach Shin Young-cheol, a former setter, also praised Han’s performance.
Tae-joon Han was disappointed in the fifth round match against Korean Air. He won the first two sets, but dropped the third set in straight sets. It was a disappointing performance for the setter. “I had a bad reverse sweep in the last round, so I tried to prepare myself not to do that, and it worked,” he said. “My brothers comforted me a lot and tried to pick myself up, as they always do, so I was able to forget about it quickly. I think I came out eager to play today.”
Korean Air is anchored by two of the best setters in the country in Han and Yoo Kwang-woo. But this season, Woori Card has been on fire with three wins and three losses. “I think it’s actually easier to play against Korean Air,” said Han Tae-joon. “Even if we lose, we learn from it. We prepare with a challenging mindset even before the game.”
Coach Shin Young-cheol boldly made Han Tae-joon, a second-year high school graduate, a starter and trained him hard, but they still talked frequently during the season. “I’d be lying if I said it was easy (to talk to the coach), but he calls me over and makes me feel comfortable talking about everyday things rather than volleyball, and then gives me direction,” Han said.
Urica made a lot of changes from the first round. Matei was dropped due to injury and Artem was brought in. Recently, Song Myung-geun has been starting more often in 메이저사이트 place of Kim Ji-han, and Issei has moved to the outside hitter position. Setter Han Tae-joon is also trying to keep up with the attackers. “It’s been changing since the fifth round, and I’m leading from the front. I have to trust my older brothers and follow them. They’re a little younger, so I tell them to cheer a lot and hit them well.”
In this match, Han often used fastballs in counterattack situations after defense to distract the opponent’s blocking. “I thought that to overcome the blocking of Korean Air’s older brothers, I needed to mix fastballs and pipes to overcome the middle blockers. I practiced fast breaks after defense a lot during training because the coach gave me instructions, and I think it showed in the match.”