‘OK’s unique volleyball’ touted for championship…Ogino “hungry for next season”
In the 2023-2024 men’s season, which culminated in Korean Air’s first four consecutive professional volleyball titles (1st place in the regular season and the championship match), OK Financial Group was a shining “luxury supporting actor.
Although the team was unable to overcome its physical disadvantage in the championship match and lost the series to Korean Air in three games, the team had a successful season under head coach Masa Ogino, displaying the ‘OK’s own volleyball’ color.
OK Financial Group came from behind to lose the third set of the championship match against Korean Air with a score of 2-3 at the Sangroksu Gymnasium in Ansan, South Korea, on February 2.
Before the match, Coach Ogino said, “Even if today is the last time, I want the players to play ‘OK’s volleyball,'” and the OK Financial Group players lived up to his expectations, threatening Korean Air until the end.
Coach Ogino said after the match, “Thank you to the players. They worked hard on a tight schedule. It’s thanks to their hard work that we made it to the final.” “The loss is the coach’s responsibility. I felt that Korean Air has a thick player base. I admit that they are one or two levels above us,” he said.
“Next season, we will build a team with a vengeance. We will show an upgraded OK Financial Group from this season,” he promised.
Ogino, who took over the reins ahead of this season, tried to change his team’s volleyball game to one that emphasizes counterattacks with organized receptions instead of risky hard serves.
He also worked to spread out the offense, which had been centered around Leonardo Leiva Martinez (nicknamed Leo).
Midway through the season, there was a slight shift in this policy, but in the end, OK Financial Group finished the season with its own colors.
Leo finished with 33 points, the fifth triple crown (three or more points each in kills, blocks, and serves in a match) in the championship, but it wasn’t enough to prevent the team from losing.
Leo, who was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the Championship for two consecutive seasons in 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 while playing for Samsung Fire, was unable to become the next Robert Randy Simon (real name Simon).
Simone is a foreign player who played a key role in OK Savings Bank’s only two championships, in 2014-2015 and 2015-2016.
Despite Leo’s performance, OK Financial Group was unable to 안전놀이터 overcome Korean Air in the end, so they will need to find someone to step up to the plate as they prepare for next season.
Coach Ogino said, “The players played in a new system. I wanted them to realize that they shouldn’t give away points too easily with errors. “I think we showed a different volleyball in the V-League, and we will fix what we need to fix (next season) and keep our volleyball,” Ogino said.
OK Financial Group is a young team that is still developing its skills.
“All the players have improved this season,” says Ogino. We trained with the same menu for both rostered and non-rostered players,” Ogino said, adding, “When the quality of the reserve players improves, the quality of the main players will also increase.”
Finally, Ogino congratulated Korean Air on their fourth consecutive victory and left the interview after admitting defeat.