[Women's Volleyball] 5 reasons why IBK Altos' performance has improved compared to last year.

1. Replacing Aqua Kinkela with Osana Miwa this year.
Both former coaches Kim Ho-chul and Yeo Oh-hyun tried to use Aqua Kinkela by... setting her up as a receiving Opposite, but when the reception broke down along with Yuk Seo-young, and the offense failed, they tried moving Victoria to the Opposite position and setting Kinkela as a receiving Outside Hitter, but that ultimately failed as well..
This year, by bringing in Aqua Miwa, although her attack success rate isn't extremely high, she is the type of player who delivers when needed, and while her receiving isn't as good as it was during her Doongkang days, she is managing to keep the reception from breaking down..
2. Utilizing Opposite Victoria as a modified Opposite Hitter.
Last year, Yeo Oh-hyun once used Vicky as an Opposite Hitter to make use of Kinkela, and this year, Coach Manabe is also using Victoria as an Opposite Hitter..
The Opposite Hitter we usually know attacks while receiving, but Victoria is set as an Opposite Hitter and is not required to participate in receiving..
The advantage of this is that it maintains offensive power while being effective at providing valid blocks against the opponent's main attackers.. In the match against Hyundai E&C, she neutralized Mega, and yesterday against Heungkuk, even if not Silva, she prevented points from being conceded; perhaps because Vicky is a former middle blocker, the opponent's foreign players seemed burdened when attacking her.. Also, since the current setters are doing better with tosses toward the Opposite rather than long back-tosses, Vicky can hit the ball comfortably and well..
3. Improved attacking ability of middle blockers Choi Jung-min and Lee Ju-ah..
Even last year, the two did well with slide attacks and quick attacks, but... for these two to attack well, the setter's toss setting must be good, and for that, the receiving must be solid. If the receiving breaks down, inaccurate tosses are inevitable, and since more balls go toward Victoria, the abilities of Choi Jung-min and Lee Ju-ah cannot be utilized. Although it has only been two matches, the setters' setting has improved compared to last year, and especially in the case of slide attacks, if they go well, they are difficult for opponents to block, so Choi Jung-min and Lee Ju-ah are scoring points as much as Victoria is..
In particular, since Choi Jung-min was originally an attacker, her ability to resolve situations from the center when Victoria or Miwa's attacks aren't working is excellent.. She is an indispensable treasure to the team..
4. The performance of the best libero, Lim Myung-ok..
After using liberos like Han Ji-hyun, Park Sang-mi, Shin Yeon-kyung, and Kim Chae-won, it was unbelievable when Choi Ri came to the team last year due to Doongkang's circumstances.. However, at that time, she had to cover a wide area to prevent the reception from breaking down for Yuk Seo-young and Kinkela, and it was unfortunate that she was sidelined by a major injury during the season..
At the time, there were concerns that it might be difficult for her to appear early this season as well, but she said she worked hard on rehabilitation and came to the gym even during the off-season to return to the court.. Ultimately, she returned this season and is playing as well as she did during her Doongkang days.. Furthermore, unlike last year, since Lee So-young and Miwa are capable of handling their share of receiving duties, the burden on Lim Myung-ok has decreased..
5. Utilizing Lee So-young as a receiving Opposite..
This is the most important reason and the core factor.. While Lee So-young's attacking power is not what it used to be, her defensive and receiving abilities are good enough that she could even transition to a libero.. Kim Ho-chul knew this and recruited Lee So-young with a large sum of money, but... because she was injury-prone and her offense wasn't working, she earned the stigma of being a failure and eventually suffered a season-ending injury last year. Nevertheless, after surgery and rehabilitation... she has returned with a determined mindset to a body capable of playing as an athlete, and she is currently playing as a receiving Opposite, leaving the attacking duties to Choi Jung-min and Lee Ju-ah while performing her role alongside Lim Myung-ok and Miwa in receiving and digging. Currently, most women's professional volleyball teams score points by finding the opponent's receiving holes and using targeted serves to break the reception and induce errors. Last year, when Yuk Seo-young or Kinkela were present, that tactic worked well, often leading to conceded points and a bad atmosphere, which was unfortunate. But this season, since Lim Myung-ok, Lee So-young, and Miwa are receiving well, defending balls that blockers can't catch, and connecting them, the tosses from Park Eun-seo and Kim Ha-kyung have been better this year than last year, and with those balls, Vicky, Choi Jung-min, Lee Ju-ah, and Miwa are attacking well, which seems to be why the team is performing well..
In a way, it was unfortunate that Kim Ho-chul couldn't properly utilize the optimal resources he had gathered, but it is a relief to see Coach Manabe utilizing them well after arriving this year.. Since the season is long, it won't be easy for them to play full-time.. I have high expectations that the key players Yuk Seo-young and Audrey Park will join eventually, and that they are being given a lot of preparation and practice to be able to play in matches..