Ace Park Jung-ah on the bench
Coach Trinzi's Cup debut
Park Jung-ah, who joined Pepper Savings Bank this year, has been left out of the starting lineup for the opening match of the 2023 Gumi Dodram Cup Pro Volleyball Tournament.
Pepper Savings Bank will open the 2023 Gumi Dodram Cup Professional Volleyball Tournament on Monday against Korea Expressway Corporation in Group A, Women's Division, at the Park Jung-hee Gymnasium in Gumi.
Pepper Savings Bank, which joined the V-League in the 2021-2022 season, finished last for the second consecutive season. They were eliminated in the group stage of last year's tournament after losing all three games.
In June, Pepper Savings Bank announced a fresh start with the appointment of Joe Trinzi as head coach.
Trinzi served as an analyst and coach for the U.S. Women's National Team from 2013-2016 and led Team USA to the 2021 North American and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation (NORCECA) Women's Championship.
"So far, so good," Trinzi said in the pre-match interview room. "We've been emphasizing offense a lot," he said, "and we've been working hard in training, but it's fun to show what we've been working on. We've been focusing a lot on our offense, especially speeding up our offense."
The main focus of the game was whether Park would play. Park signed a three-year contract with Pepper Savings Bank in April for a total compensation of 775 million won (475 million won in salary and 300 million won in options).
Coach Trinzi said of Park, "He's not starting today. He's not ready, so I didn't put him in the starting lineup," he said, adding, "There's a possibility that he'll come on as a substitute, but our goal is to finish the game with the starting players."
Pepperdine plans to test the waters in the cup with several tries. "We will try to attack quickly," said Trinzi. We don't expect perfection, but we want to see progress," said Trinzi.