Brazil+Iran is crazy. Woori Card's opening game celebration gun destroyed KEPCO's shutdown

Oct 20, 2025

Apogit Araujo from Brazil by Woori Card. Photo courtesy =KOVO

Asian quarter outside heater Ali from Iran by Woori Card. Photo courtesy =KOVO

Woori Card won the opening game.

Woori Card won the opening game against KEPCO with a set score of 3-0 (25-20, 25-20, 25-23) at Suwon Gymnasium on the 20th. Woori Card secured three points and started the new season in a good mood.

Woori Card and Korea Electric Power Corporation's new foreign guns have come off the veil, raising expectations.

Woori Card named Rafael Araujo, who is from Brazil. Arauzo played in Japan until last year after spending time in Europe, including Brazil, Poland, France, and Turkiye, and also experienced Asian volleyball, raising expectations. It raised questions about the destructive power of the 2m7 tall apogit.

KEPCO Bennon was selected as the top target of the rest of the club's vigilance. Benon, who is from Canada, is also 2m6 tall and weighs 101kg. At the FIVB World Championships held last month, he played as the main gun for Canada and showed off his strength to score 67 points in four games. Expectations were also high after experiencing various leagues such as Poland, Italy, and Japan.

As a result of opening the lid, it was Araujo's landslide victory. Araujo scored the most points in both teams with 23 points, including four blocks and two serves.

Even Ali, an Asian quarter player from Iran, flew high. Ali scored 16 points with four serve aces.

Benon was less than expected. The success rate of the nine-point attack was only 33.33%. It was also due to setter Kim Joo-young's failure to utilize Benon's offense.

Jupo Benon from KEPCO Canada. Photo courtesy =KOVO

KEPCO players are cheering. Photo courtesy =KOVO

KEPCO coach Kwon Young-min said, `I regret that I didn't have enough time to work together when I came back from the World Championship,' but as feared, Benon failed to show all his skills.

Woori Card dominated from the first set. Araujo scored eight points and Ali six points to lead the attack. Benon's success rate of two-point attack was 28.57%, which was compared to KEPCO, which failed to use its strength. From the beginning, Woori Card widened the distance to 10-4 as Ali, Park Joon-hyuk, Araujo and Kim Ji-han shook KEPCO's receiving with strong serve. At this time, he succeeded in gaining the lead without losing it to the end.

The flow of the second set was similar to that of the first set. With Woori Card leading 9-8, Park Jin-woo's serve ace burst. Since then, Korea Electric Power Corporation's Seo Jae-deok's set mistake and Ali's successful open attack have completely taken away the flow by running 12-8. Korea Electric Power Corp. bowed its head to Araujo's collaboration with Ali. Ali smashed KEPCO by bursting three serve aces in the second set alone.

Woori Card also shook KEPCO with serve in the third set from the beginning. Park Joon-hyuk and Araujo burst their serve aces and ran away 8-4. As Park Jin-woo blocked the fastball of the forward line and widened it to 9-4, KEPCO eventually excluded setter Kim Joo-young and put in Bae Hae-chan-sol.

After Bae Hae-chan-sol was deployed, Korea Electric Power Corp. took the lead. Benon and the central strikers came to life, and Shin Young-seok burst a serve ace and followed it to 12-11. In a close game, Woori Card's Park Joon-hyuk's net touch error made it 13-13, and the shutdown victory seemed to be in vain. After Benon's offensive score at 16-16, Araujo's back-attack error came out, widening the gap to Korea Electric Power Corp.

Amid the 19-23 defeat, Lee Yoo-bin scored a serve ace after Kim Ji-han's quick open score, narrowing it to 21-23 to lay the groundwork for the final counterattack. Lee Yoo-bin continued to shake KEPCO's receiving, and Park Jin-woo and Araujo balanced 23-23 as they successfully blocked consecutive times. Araujo's open attack then collected 24-23 match points, and Lee Yoo-bin burst a serve ace to end the game.