There are players on the court for 20 winters from the league’s first launch in the 2005 season to the 23-24 season.
Jeonggwanjang Han Song-yi (MB), Hyundai Engineering & Construction’s Hwang Yeon-ju (OP), and Korea Expressway Corporation’s Lim Myeong-ok (L) are the main characters.
■ The only former “domestic top scorer,” Jeong Kwan-jang Han Song
Han Song-yi joined the Korea Expressway Corporation as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2002 Super League Draft before the launch of the V-League.
He later began his professional career in the Korea Expressway Corporation with the launch of the V-League in the 2005 season, and after Heungkuk Life Insurance in the 08-09 season and GS Caltex in the 11-12 season, he settled in Jeong Kwan-jang (then called KGC Ginseng Corporation), the current team in the 17-18 season.
Han Song-yi, who stood in the outside heater position at the beginning of the league, led the heyday of the road construction in the mid-2000s, including the first regular league in the V-League in 2005. In particular, he won the scoring award in the 07-08 season, beating all foreign players, including domestic big guns such as Kim Yeon-kyung and Hwang Yeon-ju, which is also the only domestic player to win the scoring award from the introduction of the women’s foreign player system in the 06-07 season to the 13-14 season, which ran the scoring award.
He later attempted to change his position to the current middle blocker from the 14–15 season, and was in his second prime in the 19–20 season. He achieved his fifth 600 blocks in his career, enjoying the joy of his first career best 7 (middle blocker), and in the 20-21 season, he recorded 0.699 blocks per set to become a block queen, and at the same time became the best 7 (middle blocker) for two consecutive seasons following the previous season.
Han Song-yi said, “I am grateful to be able to play with a lot of love from the first year of my professional career to the present. I hope that professional volleyball will become a more loved sport by fans, and I will always do my best on the court until the last moment of retirement,” he said.
■ Hwang Yeon-ju of Hyundai Engineering & Construction, Immortal Apogit
Hwang Yeon-ju took his first step as a professional player after being named Heungkuk Life Insurance as the second pick in the first round of the first draft in the 2005 season. Since then, he has been on the court since changing to Hyundai Engineering & Construction’s uniform in the 10-11 season.
Hwang Yeon-ju won the V-League upon his debut. He won the Rookie of the Year Award, the Back Attack Award, and the Sub Award in the 2005 season by playing as an Apogit Spiker, and in the 10-11 seasons, he won his first championship of the championship game to his team Hyundai Engineering & Construction, and at the same time, he swept the sub, regular league MVP, All-Star MVP, and championship game MVP.
Even though it is already in its 20th season, it still shows off its robustness. In particular, in the 22-23 season, he filled the void of Hyundai Engineering & Construction’s foreign Apogit Yasmin, who left due to a back injury at the end of the third round, and played 28 games and scored 249 points, a triple-digit score.
As he was the best striker, he also held many of the first standard records in women’s history. Starting with 200 serves in the 10-11 season, he scored 3,000 points in the 11-12 season, 300 serves in the 13-14 season, and 5,000 points in the 17-18 season.
Hwang Yeon-ju also achieved the first triple crown of all time. Since his first triple crown in the 05–06 season, he has achieved a total of four triple crowns, the fourth-largest record for foreign players and the most for a domestic player. In addition, she is currently ranked first in the women’s serve (458) and second in scoring (5,786 points).
Asked how he felt about accompanying the team for the 20th season, Hwang Yeon-ju said, “It feels like I’m living with the V-League. I feel proud to walk through history together, seeing the league develop from the first year. I want to repay you with high-quality performance,” he said.
■ Choi Ri, the best libero in the women’s division, Lim Myeong-ok of the Korea Expressway Corporation
Lim Myeong-ok, captain of the Korea Expressway Corporation, who won a miraculous reverse sweep last season, joined KT&G as the third pick in the first round of the 2005 season.
Lim Myeong-ok, who was an outside heater position at the time of the nomination, has turned to Libero since the 08-09 season and has been performing well enough to be called “Choi-ri” by reducing “Best Libero.”
As of today, she ranks first in the women’s division in two categories with 6,044 receiving accuracy and 16,116 defensive success. Dig, which has 10,072 records, is second only to Heungkuk Life Insurance’s Kim Hae-ran (10,900).
Lim Myeong-ok stood out as a receiving queen for four consecutive seasons from the 19-20 season. In the 19-20 season, he was ranked first in all categories of receptions, digs, and defense, along with 51.94 % of receiving efficiency, and in the 22-23 season when he won the championship game, he was ranked first in both categories with 59.85 % of receiving efficiency and 8.625 defenses per set.
In addition, based on these performances, he won the Best 7 (Libero) award for four consecutive seasons from the 19-20 to the 22-23 seasons.
He has set several records during his 20-season commute, of which noteworthy is the number of games he has played. Since achieving 500 regular league appearances for the first time in the V-League women’s team through a match against Heungkuk Life Insurance in December of the 22-23 season, he has played 527 games and has the record for the most appearances in the women’s team. As a reference record, he achieved his third defense of all time in the 12-13 season, 5,000 defense, and his third defense of all time in the 17-18 season.
Lim Myeong-ok said, “I joined the club in 2005, and I was very moved to see the players born in 2005 this year. “I want to keep the best position for a long time by making more efforts so that the history of professional volleyball can become my way soon,” he said.