On the starting line-up for Heungkuk Life’s match against IBK IBK at Samsan World Gymnasium in Incheon on Thursday, there was an unfamiliar name in place of star setter Lee Won-jung .Park Hye-jin (21), who was highly touted as a long setter for the national team but was sidelined for a long time due to injury .Park was selected by Heungkuk Life with the fifth pick of the first round in the 2020-2021 rookie draft and made the leap to the starting setter in her second year. She progressed so well that she was called up to the women’s national team last year, but an unexpected cartilage tear in her right knee put her on the operating table .Park, who played her first regular season match in one year and nine months since 21 March last year against GS Caltex, took to the court as if she had been waiting for the first set. She added energy to her game by actively using fastballs, and used her height of 177cm to pull down three blocks. She added five points by fooling her opponent’s blocker by pretending to throw a toss and then attacking straight away.”I wasn’t told beforehand that I was going to start today,” Park said after the game, “but I thought, ‘If I go out there, I’ll do it confidently.
“I was worried because I hadn’t played with my sisters in such a detailed way for a long time, but there were some parts of the game that worked. I will continue to show more coordination in the future.” Park didn’t let go of volleyball during her long rehabilitation. “I watched every single volleyball,” she said with a twinkle in her eye. “At the beginning of my rehabilitation, I thought it was a shame that I wasn’t there, but I just focused on recovering and coming back as soon as possible.” “I cried a lot, but I held it together,” she said of her comeback match. I was really happy,” she added. Captain Kim Yeon-kyung gave Park Hye-jin a boost when she returned to the court after a long absence .”She gave me technical advice and told me to be confident when I wasn’t,” Park said. The other sisters on the court did the same. They all supported me a lot, so I was able to hold on.” With main setter Lee Won-jeong sidelined by COVID-19, Park Hye-jin has filled in admirably and is expected to get more playing time this season. “Today was a seven out of 10 match,” Park said. I had a lot of desire to show,” she said, explaining, “I’m a long setter, so my height is an 스포츠토토존 advantage, so I wanted to be aggressive.”