Moon Jung-won, 31, of the Korean women’s volleyball team, will make the switch to libero at the Volleyball Nations League (VNL) 2023, an international tournament starting on March 30.
Moon’s main position is an outside hitter (right side). However, national team head coach Cesar Hernandez and coach Han Yoo-mi took note of Moon’s defensive skills as a professional libero and selected her as a libero in their roster for the VNL.
The other libero is Shin Yeon-kyung from 토토사이트 IBK. If the team had wanted to use Shin as a starter, they would not have selected Moon Jung-won, whose primary position is outside hitter, as a backup.
In the 2022-23 season, Moon played 35 games in the V-League Women’s Division and finished second in the league with a 56.94% receiving efficiency. The only player with a higher mark was specialist libero Lee Myeong-ok, who posted a 59.85% mark. Shin Yeon-kyung was fourth at 50.00%.
The Korean women’s volleyball team lost 12 games in the VNL last year. Their setters were unable to deliver accurate tosses due to their opponents’ strong serves, which led to a vicious cycle of inaccurate attacks. In the tournament, starting libero Handa Hye posted a 38.42% receiving efficiency. Only once in her full-time career did she exceed 50%, against the Dominican Republic.
Her serve receive is the start of the offense. There are plenty of liberos who are quicker and better at digging (defending against balls other than the opponent’s serve) than Moon. But when it comes to serve receive stability, Moon Jung-won is the best. Lee Myeong-ok, who is thirty-eight years old, doesn’t fit in with the idea of generational change in the national team. Moon Jung-won is a good serve. He can also help in the offense.
There are also concerns. Moon Jung-won’s role has been to support the main libero. She hasn’t played a game where her main task is to receive. She will also be unfamiliar with the libero-only rule, where she can only play under tosses.
Libero Moon Jung-won is a key player for the Korean team at the VNL. “I don’t want to hear the words ‘libero was the problem,'” Moon said before departing for Week 1 host Turkuye on Sept. 22.