Leave Kim Yeon-koung's vacancy to me! Rebecca scored 28 points in four years...Heungkuk Life Insurance won the opening game by holding Jeonggwanjang

Oct 18, 2025

Photo courtesy=KOVO

'Volleyball Emperor' Even without Kim Yeon-kyung, Heungkuk Life was 'Champion'. It was Rebecca Rasem, a foreign player who returned to the Korean stage after four years.

Heungkuk Life defeated set score 3-1 (25-24, 25-16, 18-25, 25-19) in the women's opening match of the V-League at Samsan World Gymnasium in Incheon on the 18th.

It was a refreshing first victory for Heungkuk Life coach Tomoko Yoshihara, who made his debut on the Korean stage. On the other hand, it was a bitter start to the season for Jeong Kwan-jang and coach Ko Hee-jin, who vowed to avenge the championship game last season. He was hampered by receiving anxiety, and the scores he gave away in vain due to large and small mistakes led to defeat.

Photo courtesy=KOVO

Kim Yeon-kyung's official retirement ceremony was scheduled after the game. After securing the top spot in the regular season last year, he announced his retirement thoughts several times through the KYK Invitational after winning the championship, but this day is a place to retire to home fans as a V-League player.

Coach Yoshihara, whom I met before the game, said "I have a lot of worries about the composition of the players. I still haven't decided on a starting member. Still, it's a relief to play the first game at home."

Both the main setter Lee Go-eun and the Asian quarter pitch are difficult to play due to injuries. Instead, expectations were high for Rebecca, a new foreigner. Yoshihara said, `The height (1m90) is my biggest strength. If we get more power, we'll show better performance."Setter Jean is the part that needs to grow the most in our team. Strictly, sometimes even praise and guidance", he explained.

Regarding Kim Yeon-kyung, he also expressed his honest feelings, saying, `I would do well if I wanted to be a coach because of my excellent improvement and leadership, but I still want to see him as a player.'

Photo courtesy=KOVO

It drew attention that rookie Seo Chae-hyun was a setter and Park Soo-yeon, who played as a servo last season, sewed the main libero.

Head coach Ko Hee-jin said, `We forgot about the past and prepared for a new season"I'm going to show you "Algal Volleyball" this season. The key player is Lee Sun-woo. I tried to grow by following my voice to the extent that I could hear it in my dreams," he stressed.

The height of the native team, which leads to Jung Ho-young, Park Eun-jin, and Lee Sun-woo, is the biggest strength, but there was a lack of detail. Park Hye-min stepped up as Lee Sun-woo's partner. Another unsettling factor is that Choi Seo-hyun, a rookie who played for Hyundai Engineering & Construction until last season, filled the spot of setter Yeom Hye-sun, who was out due to injury.

Photo courtesy=KOVO

Rebecca is Korea's first challenge in four years since the 2021-2022 season. At that time, he made a name for himself as a Korean-beautiful foreign player, but he was expelled during the season amid criticism that he was lacking power.

You look totally different on this day. He bombed 10 points in the first set alone, making a great contribution to gaining the upper hand, and led the team to victory with 28 points in the final, showing off a high-sensitivity attack that exceeded 60% all the time. Relatively, the performance of domestic players, including FA Lee Da-hyun, was a little disappointing.

Jeong Kwan-jang's Janette also scored 25 points, but was buried in Rebecca. Lee Sun-woo, who drew attention, scored 13 points, but overall fell short of expectations.

The flow was divided in the first set. Rebecca and Janette each scored 10 points to boost the mood.

Heungkuk Life was 15-18 behind Jeong Kwan-jang's blocking with Park Eun-jin and Lee Sun-woo at the forefront. However, Choi Eun-ji's score, the opponent's mistake, and Rebecca's consecutive score succeeded in turning it over 19-18. Jeong Kwan-jang's fierce chase allowed a 22-22 tie, followed by a showdown between Rebecca and Janette. However, he won the first set with back-to-back mistakes by Jeong Kwan-jang at 24-24.

Photo courtesy=KOVO

Heungkuk Life won even the second set with a bland finish. Seo Chae-hyun's serve ace, Kim Soo-ji's fastball, and Rebecca's consecutive scores burst to lead 12-9, and Moon Ji-yoon's block on Kim Da-sol's consecutive serve ace widened the gap to 17-11. Since then, Heungkuk Life has even won the second set by using its height.

The third set is Jeong Kwan-jang's counterattack. Park Hye-min led the atmosphere with a remarkable performance in the offense and defense, and the height leading to Lee Sun-woo, Park Eun-jin, and Jung Ho-young pressured Heungkuk Life. Heungkuk Life failed to catch up with the trend of losing 13-17 and 16-21.

Even at the beginning of the fourth set, the height of the articles of association was fierce. However, Heungkuk Life turned it over 10-7 with veteran Choi Eun-ji's offense and defense performance.

Despite struggling with Jeonggwanjang's blocking, Rebecca regained her strength, and Jeonggwanjang's futile mistakes came out, widening the gap to 14-10, 21-15, and 23-17. In the end, Heungkuk Life Insurance, which did not miss the flow until the end of the set, completed the victory.