After three consecutive seasons in last place since its inception, Gwangju Pepper Savings Bank has received back-to-back No. 1 picks in the draft. Can they finally break free from the bottom and dream bigger this time?

Pepper Savings Bank acquired the No. 1 pick in the Korea Volleyball Organization (KOVO) Women’s Foreign Player Draft 2024 held at the Holiday Inn & Suites Dubai Science Park in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Sept. 9 to select Croatian outside hitter Barbara Zavic.

The marbles were distributed in reverse order of last season’s results, including the clubs with priority contracts, as follows: No. 7 Pepper Savings Bank (35), No. 6 Gimcheon Korea Expressway Corporation (30), No. 5 Hwaseong IBK Bank (25), No. 4 Seoul GS Caltex (20), No. 3 Daejeon Jeonggwanjang (15), No. 2 Incheon Heungkuk Life (10), and No. 1 Suwon Hyundai E&C (5). It was followed by Jung Kwan-jang, Korea Expressway Corporation, IBK, GS Caltex, Heungkuk Life Insurance, 토토사이트 추천 and Hyundai E&C in that order.

Pepper Savings Bank was lucky enough to get the No. 1 pick in the Asian Quarterly Draft on the first day of the draft, acquiring 197-centimeter Chinese middle blocker Zhang Yue, and this time, the bank gained a clear strength in Xinjiang with 191-centimeter Apojit Javic.

According to KOVO, new Pepper Savings Bank head coach Jang Ji-yeon said, “It’s good to get the players I want. I had a few players in mind when I came from Korea, but she was my favorite.” “She is competitive in terms of height and power. She has a good understanding of volleyball. She had a great life in the U.S. where she got a scholarship for four years. One of the things that stood out to me when I arrived was that when the coaches explained the evaluation exercises to me, I was able to explain them to the other players. His life was also good enough to earn him a scholarship for four years in the U.S.,” he said.

“It’s hard to play when you lose height. “It’s hard to play when you’re losing height,” he said, “and I think we need to work on training to utilize that height. We focused on apogee spikers, but that can be too narrow, so we looked at a wide range of players.”

They were desperate for the No. 1 spot. “In the Asian quarter, Zhang Yu was number eight, and the day before, he was chanting eight times, eight times, eight times. I drank eight glasses of water.” “Before the draft, all the domestic players sent messages to each other the day before,” he said.

Vanya Vukiric, who played for Korea Expressway Corporation last season, was selected second overall. Having gotten his number earlier than expected, he asked for time. After much deliberation, he chose Vukirich, who played for Korea Expressway Corporation. Vukiric was the third-leading scorer in the league last season, but his contract was not renewed by the Korea Expressway Corporation. Chung, who holds the Asia Quarter Mega, was expected to pick an outside hitter, but instead chose Apojit Vukiric. Club officials, who had Vukiric in mind, breathed a sigh of disappointment.

Roadworks chose left-handed outside hitter Merelin Nikoleva (Bulgaria – 183 centimeters), while IBK Bank, which needed height reinforcements after selecting setter Chen Xintong (China) in the Asian quarter, selected outside hitter Victoria Danchak (Ukraine – 191 centimeters).

Heungkuk Life, who showed their desire to win the title by delaying Kim Yeon-kyung’s retirement, fell short at No. 6. With all the players they had in mind selected, they had to call for time, and head coach Marcello Avondanza chose Turku Bourge (191 cm), an apo jit spiker from Turkuye.

A total of 41 players, including 37 invitees and four existing players, applied for the draft, including Leticia Moma Bassoko (Cameroon) and Giselle Silva (Cuba), who will be playing in Korea after their original teams, Hyundai E&C and GS Caltex, re-signed them the day before.

The new players will earn $250,000 a year, while the re-signed players will earn $300,000. Willow Johnson (USA), who played for Heungkuk Life last season, was not selected and had to pack her bags.