Kwon Young-min’s reflection “I was too excited, I won’t get angry next time”
“I misbehaved. We won’t do that next time.”
Kwon Young-min’s KEPCO snapped a three-game losing streak with a 3-2 (20-25, 25-23, 25-22, 23-25, 15-13) victory over Korean Air in the fourth round of the Dodram 2023-24 V-League Men’s Division at Gyeyang Gymnasium in Incheon on Monday.
With their 10th win in 10 matches, KEPCO improved to 29 points and closed the gap on third-placed Korean Air (34 points, 11 wins, 9 losses) to six points.
Tys Dull Host (real name Tys) led the way with a game-high 27 points, followed by Lim Sung-jin with 14, Seo Jae-duk with 13, and Shin Young-seok with 12. Four players scored in double figures. Despite being out-blocked 7-19, they smiled.
KEPCO had a fourth-set crisis. At 16-17 in the fourth set, head coach Kwon Young-min was ejected for protesting the video review of Han’s serve. He protested strongly against the video referee’s inability to read the call. After losing the fourth set, KEPCO could have been in danger of a fifth set, but the team united as a unit and were able to hold off Korean Air.
In the post-match interview, head coach Kwon Young-min spoke about the circumstances of the fourth set exit. “The players said it wasn’t a hit. I didn’t know if it was a hit or not, and they said it was unreadable. That one point was an important point. Next time, I won’t do that,” Kwon said.
“I don’t think I’ve ever gotten sent off in volleyball. I didn’t know they were going to send me off. I did the wrong thing. I got too excited and hit the desk. I apologized and said, “Next time I’ll try not to get angry if I’m in that situation.
After the second set and before the third set, he was seen talking to his starting setter Ha Seung-woo on the bench. What did coach Kwon Young-min, a former setter himself, say to his starter?
Kwon said, “Actually, I thought I should take him out of the first set (laughs). Sometimes, when Taith was hitting the ball, he would act like Seung-woo’s toss was bad. Then Seung-woo would get unhappy or shaky. We talked about that. We talked about it, and I think that was a factor in our victory.”