SEOUL, South Korea (Yonhap) — Defending V-League women’s champion Korea Expressway Corporation earned its first victory in the 2023 Gumi Dodram Cup professional volleyball tournament, beating Pepper Savings Bank in the opening match.Hyundai E&C also started the tournament with a win.Korea Express defeated Pepper Savings Bank 3-1 (25-17 21-25 25-23 25-22) in straight sets in the opening match of the Gumi Dodram Cup Women’s Division (Group A) at Park Junghee Gymnasium in Gyeongsangbuk-do, South Korea, on Monday.The opening match was billed as the “Park Jung-ah Derby,” but in reality, Park was only in the warm-up zone.New Pepper Savings Bank head coach Joe Trinzi gave Park, who hadn’t had much time to get to know her teammates after being called up to the national team, a break. Trinzi lost his debut game in Korea.Park, who made his V-League debut with IBK in 2011-2012 and played for Korea Expressway Corporation from 2017-2018, became a free agent (FA) after the 2022-2023 season and signed a three-year contract with Pepper Savings Bank for a total annual fee of 775 million won casinositekingcom (475 million won in salary and 300 million won in options).Coincidentally, her first official match was against Roadworks, but Park did not take the court.With foreign players, including Asian quarters, not participating in the tournament due to the lack of a transfer agreement (ICT), and Park resting, Pepper Savings Bank opened the tournament with only a fraction of its strength.The youngest club, Pepper Savings Bank, made its first appearance in the Cup last year and lost all three qualifying matches in straight sets, 0-3.On this day, the team won two sets thanks to the efforts of Lee Han-bi (19 points) and Park Eun-seo (22 points), making it the first team to win a set in the Cup.However, they quickly fell apart as they dropped the decisive third set.At 20-24 in the third set, Pepper Savings Bank scored three consecutive points from Park Eun-seo to pull within 23-24.The team had a chance to go for a deuce when Bae Yoo-na, the middle blocker of DOT, repeatedly blocked the attack.After receiving an open attack from Park Eun-seo, DOT ended the third set 25-23 with an open attack from Jeon Sae-yan.Pepper Savings Bank rallied from 16-24 to 22-24 in the fourth set, but a ball kicked up by libero Moon Seul-ki was not received by other players and the team lost the fourth set 22-25.Without star setter Lee Yoon-jung due to an ankle injury and weakened by the departure of Park Jung-ah, Roadbank kept the pride of the defending V-League champions alive by winning the opening match of the Cup.Wing Kim Sae-in, who won the Player of the Cup last year, led the team’s offense with 20 points.Despite the victory, Roadworks had to deal with a setback when middle blocker Choi Ga-eun, who was recruited by Pepper Savings Bank in exchange for setter Lee Ig-eun, stepped on Park Eun-seo’s foot while attempting to block in the middle of the second set and fell, injuring her ankle.It was the first time in six years and four months that a professional volleyball match had been held in Gumi since March 2017, when LIG Insurance, the predecessor of KB Insurance, called Park Jung-hee Gymnasium home.

The opening match was attended by 2,143 spectators.