Pepper Savings Bank has thickened its roster for the 23-24 season.
On the 10th, the KOVO Women’s Rookie Draft for the 2023-24 season was held at Mayfield Hotel in Gangseo.
As in the 22-23 season, the lottery was held in reverse order of performance, so Pepper Savings Bank, which finished last in the league last season, received the highest probability of 35% of the lottery balls. As expected, they got the first pick in the first round, but they were unable to select Kim Se-bin (Korea Expressway Corporation, 187 cm, middle blocker), who was considered the biggest high school talent.
Pepper Savings missed out on the biggest name of the season in an “unfortunate turn of events.
When the free agency was released this year, Pepper Savings Bank signed outside hitter Park Jung-ah from Roadworks, but when they had to give away a compensatory player, they did not designate their main setter, Lee Ig-eun, as a protective player and gave her back to her parent team, Roadworks.
In the end, Pepper Savings Bank was only able to retrieve her after giving up its first-round pick in the 23-24 season along with middle blocker Choi Ga-eun.
This gave the Roadrunners the opportunity to take over the overall No. 1 pick from Pepper Savings Bank and acquire outside hitter Kim Se-bin. After winning the championship reverse sweep the previous season, they had the pleasure of having a rookie in Max-er.
However, Pepper Savings Bank’s rookie selection is noteworthy for another reason. The team selected four players, the most in the draft. Coach Cho Trinzi, who was participating in the draft for the first time, made two consecutive picks in the first and seventh rounds. Ryu Hye-sun (178.4 cm, OP/OH) was selected in the first round and Park Soo-bin (174.6 cm, S) in the seventh round to add offense and setter resources.
In the third round, Gwangju was the only team to select Lee Ju-hyun (162.5 cm, S/L), and the first collegiate player to be selected was Lee Chae-eun (170 cm, L, freshman, Gwangju Women’s University). Gwangju is also home to Pepper Savings Bank. Lee showed tears of emotion as she broke the preconceived notion that college players are only drafted as rookies.
This is a different story of determination from the previous season’s rookie draft.
Kim Hyung-sil, who was the head coach of Pepper Savings Bank until the previous season, selected only two players from the rookie draft, Yeom Er-hung (195 cm, middle blocker) and Lee Min-seo (175 cm, outside hitter). While clubs are free to pick their own players, the fact of the matter is that Pepper Savings Bank’s resources were quite thin at the time.
Erhung was the longest player on the roster, but he was slow and not known for his instincts, and Lee Min-seo was an apogee but a defensive player, so he was ambiguous as a backup for Nia Reid, who was a foreign recruit at the time. The team later added Eun-jin Son (currently playing volleyball for Gwangju Women’s University), but her professional career was short-lived as she was declared a free agent within three weeks.
It is unpredictable how Jotrinji will develop these four “sunshine babies” in the future.
However, if you look at Pepper Savings Bank’s roster this season, you’ll see that the team has a lot more depth, with new starters like Park Jung-ah, Chae Sun-ah, Yasmin, and MJ, as well as a number of rookies. In addition, middle blocker Ha Hye-jin, who endured a lengthy rehabilitation from a shoulder injury, made her debut at the 2023 Gumi Dodram Cup.
Coach Zotrinji, who had his first experience with rookie picks at the event, had two multi-position players. Ryu Hye-sun can play both outside hitter and outside spiker, while Lee Ju-hyun can play both setter and libero.
“I like players who are versatile,” said Cho, “and I think it’s important for them to have good athleticism and be able to play multiple positions so that they can fill the needs of the team when they come to the pros.”
Regarding Lee Chae-eun, who was selected as a college player, he added, “We selected her after noticing her stable reception in the pre-test.”스포츠토토
Meanwhile, Pepper Savings Bank will play its first game of the season on October 15 against Hyundai E&C in Suwon. Prior to that, the season opener will be held on October 14 between Roadworks and Heungkuk Life.