“It wasn’t easy in that situation….”
Korean Air won their Dodram 2023-2024 V-League Men’s match against OK Financial Group Eatmen 3-1 (25-18, 25-13, 21-25, 25-23) on Thursday at Gyeyang Gymnasium in Incheon, South Korea.
With the three points, Korean Air moved into first place in the standings with 18 wins, 11 losses and 56 points, ahead of 바카라사이트 Woori Card (19 wins, 9 losses and 55 points).
On Dec. 12, Korean Air ended its search for two foreign players. When foreign player Lincoln went down with an injury in December, Korean Air signed Murad, who was playing in the Bulgarian league, as a temporary replacement. He was eligible to play for Korean Air for eight weeks from the date of Lincoln’s medical certificate.
Korean Air chose to go with Murad. Lincoln’s fitness hasn’t improved. “It wasn’t an easy decision,” said head coach Tomi Tilikainen, “I didn’t think about other teams, I just thought about our situation at the moment. “It was not an easy decision. We had a lot of years with Lincoln and we have good memories. We won a lot of games with him. I think we grew through him, so he played the kind of volleyball that I’ve been looking for since I arrived, and I’m grateful for that.”
Korean Air used Lim Dong-hyuk as its main point of attack in the OK Financial Group match. Through three sets, Lim had a 54.84 percent attack percentage. However, he started to falter at the end of the third set and was blocked at 24 points in the fourth set.
Korean Air brought in Murad. At 24-23, Mourad slammed home the final attack to end the match. It was Murad’s only point of the match.
After the match, Coach Tilikainen said, “Our serve was good, our receive was good. Han’s toss distribution was good with one block. In the third set, they played well. It’s an advantage to have two apogee attackers. Murad did a good job with the last point.”
“It was a good matchup,” he said of the switch to Murad. It’s not easy for him to come in and play like that, but he did a good job,” said the coach.
“He’s been playing well every time, not just this season,” he said of Lim Dong-hyuk. A couple of errors doesn’t change my assessment of him. It’s an advantage that we have two apogees. On some days, one player can break out and on other days, the other player can break out. Having two apogees allows us to be prepared for those situations.”