"I was delighted to be able to erase the question mark about winning."
Yang Hyo-jin (35) said at the Hyundai Engineering & Construction Training Gymnasium in Yongin City, Gyeonggi Province on Thursday, "I think I won the title when I was young. I once thought, 'Can I win again?' Yang's team Hyundai Engineering & Construction beat Heungkuk Life Insurance in the third round of the V-League Women's Championship (three wins out of five) three days ago, achieving the unified title following the regular season this season. It was the first championship in eight years since the 2015-2016 season, and the first championship in 13 years since the 2010-2011 season. Yang Hyo-jin, who debuted as a professional player in 2007 as a member of Hyundai Engineering & Construction, won the title for the third time in his career.
Hyundai Engineering & Construction ranked No. 1 in the regular season in the 2019-2020 and 2021-2022 seasons, but failed to win the championship trophy. This is because the postseason game itself was not held in the wake of the spread of the novel coronavirus infection disease (COVID-19). Yang Hyo-jin said, "This season, all the players in our team started with a lot of emptiness. Each of us did our best to win the championship."
Yang said his return to the championship after eight years was not easy. "I watched the video of the first match against Heungkuk Life Insurance again, and I couldn't control my neck properly on the court," he said. Having suffered from neck disc from the end of the regular season, Yang focused on rehabilitation until right before the championship took place. Hyundai Engineering & Construction, which lost the first set of its first match, took the risk of exchanging seats between middle blockers Yang Hyo-jin and Lee Da-hyun from the second set. "I was embarrassed because I had never stood before in this season's regular season, but Dahyun was good in front of tall players from the other team," Yang said.
Her first showdown at the championship with Kim Yeon-koung, her best friend, also left an unforgettable memory. "Yeonkyung was really good at offense and defense, and she was amazing. It was a relief to me that she and I had been on the same team as you while playing for the national team," Yang said. Yang, who is in her 18th year as a professional soccer player, freely says that she is still a "role model." Yang and Kim are both shortlisted for the MVP of this season's regular season. "I think she will win the MVP award," Yang said.
When asked what he wants to achieve in the future by Yang Hyo-jin, who ranks first in both men's and women's V-League (7,574 points) and is the top in blocking (1,560 points), Yang said, "There is no such thing." "At one time, I set a goal and really focused on achieving it," Yang said. "But after achieving my goal of becoming MVP in the 2015-2016 season, I felt empty. I even thought about quitting volleyball." "After that, I only think about what I do every day and just see what lies in front of me," Yang said. "My volleyball skills are still improving a little bit. I just appreciate that I can play volleyball."
After finishing one season, Yang plans to travel with her husband after the V League regular season award ceremony to be held on Sunday. When asked where she is going, Yang said, "I can't think of two things at once. I can't do anything else during the season because I only think of volleyball. I need to look for travel destinations from now on."
