OK Financial Group, the only team in the men’s professional volleyball league to have never won a professional volleyball cup (hereinafter referred to as the Cup), has made amends.
OK Financial Group defeated Samsung Fireworks 3-1 (25-23, 22-25, 25-23, 25-20) in the men’s final of the 2023 Gumi Dodram Cup professional volleyball tournament at Park Jung-hee Gymnasium in Gumi, Gyeongbuk, on Wednesday.
OK Financial Group, which had only finished as runner-up three times before in 2015, 2019 and 2021, won the Cup trophy for the first time since its inception and took home the $50 million prize money.
OK Financial Group’s new head coach, Masashi Ogino, who became the first Japanese coach in the history of men’s professional volleyball in May, proved his leadership skills in his debut at the top of the tournament.
Samsung Fire, seeking its first title in five years and third overall since 2018, fell to its knees after failing to fend off OK Financial Group’s sharp offense.
However, the team reorganized a team that finished last in the regular season last year and finished as runners-up in the cup competition, adding confidence to their goal of “rebuilding the franchise” in the new season.
OK Financial Group’s Shin Seong-jin was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player (MVP), receiving 27 of the 31 votes cast by journalists.
Samsung Fire’s Park Sung-jin won the Most Improved Player (MIP) award, while OK Financial Group’s Lee Jin-sung took home the Rising Star award.
The decisive game of the day was the third set, which was tied 1-1.
The two teams traded points from 12-12 to 23-23 in a seesaw game that was worthy of a cup final.
OK Financial Group took a step ahead, 24-23, with a quick opener from Shin Shin-jin after an accurate toss from Kwak Myung-woo.
Kim Jung-ho’s back-attack was saved by Park Won-bin, and Kwak Myung-woo’s toss was finished by Chae-hwan to take the set 2-1.
OK Financial Group, which continued its momentum and took a 17-8 lead in the fourth set, popped the champagne beforehand, but Samsung Fire’s onslaught at the end of the game brought the score to 21-18.
At this point, Jeon Jin-sun intercepted Park Sung-jin’s attack to extend the gap to four points and capitalized on two opponent errors to take a 24-19 lead, leaving them just one point away from victory.
The OK Financial Group players first celebrated as Park Sung-jin’s open attack was ruled out of bounds, but the video review showed that it hit Park Seung-soo’s fingertips, so they popped the champagne cap for a moment.
Then, when Shin’s back-attack hit a Samsung Fire blocker and fell out of bounds, the team celebrated to their hearts’ content, winning their first Cup title.
OK Financial Group’s Shin Shin-jin had a perfect performance with 34 points, 12 back attacks, and a 72.34% attack success rate.
Chae-hwan supported him with 23 points, including one block and two serves.
Jeon Jin-sun and Kwak Myung-woo each had four blocking points.
Samsung Fire countered with 30 points from Park Sung-jin and 16 points from Shin Shin-ho, 먹튀검증토토사이트 but lost the height battle with a 10-14 blocking score and missed out on the championship trophy.