Woori Card lost 2-3 (24-26, 25-23, 25-20, 21-25, 14-16) to Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance in an away match against Daejeon on the 16th.
The loss to Woori Card (70 points) was painful because it had to hand over the direct ticket to Korean Air (71 points) by a point difference.
Woori Card finished the first half (rounds 1 to 3) with 39 points.
There is a 97.3% chance that such a team will add more than 32 points in the second half, but Woori Card blew this probability with the loss.
What’s interesting is that Shin Young-chul, who leads Woori Card, is no stranger to losing the full set on March 16.
Woori Card also knelt 2-3 (20-25, 21-25, 25-20, 25-23, 14-16) in an away game in Incheon on March 16 last year (2023).
Woori Card ranked third in the regular league with 56 points last season, playing a semi-playoff (semi-PO) with Korea Electric Power Corporation (53 points).
Even if Woori Card had added 20,000 points in the last game of the regular league, it could have advanced to the playoffs without a semi-PO.
Woori Card had to close its “Spring Volleyball” schedule after one game as it was upgraded to 1-3 (19-25, 18-25, 25-18, 22-25) in the semi-PO.
On March 16, 2022, the opponent of the home game was also Korean Air, and the result of the game was 2-3 (21-25, 25-18, 23-25, 25-23, 10-25).
Fortunately, this game is the third game in the sixth round of the 2021-2022 season, so there was still a chance to make up for it.
However, Woori Card (59 points), ranked third, had to play a semi-PO at the end of the season with a three-point gap with Korea Electric Power Corporation (56 points).
The semi-PO result for this season, held on April 1 of the same year, was also a 1-3 (28-30, 25-18, 22-25, 19-25) defeat by Woori Card.
The most regrettable March 16 match in Woori Card’s history was also held in 2019.
Woori Card, which was founded in the 2013-2014 season, took its first postseason stage since its foundation as the third place in the regular league in the 2018-2019 season.
Woori Card had a match point opportunity 14-13 in a full set match against Hyundai Capital in the first round of PO held as a visit to Cheonan.
However, Park Jin-woo (34) eventually lost the game 2-3 (25-20, 21-25, 12-25, 25-23, 14-16) after making a serve error.
Coach Shin also experienced a full set defeat in a match against Daejeon on March 16, 2015, when he was at the helm of KEPCO.
So, coach Shin did not suddenly suffer from jinx on March 16 after sitting in the head coach of Woori Card.
However, this game was the last regular league game throughout the 2015-2015 season, so it was less burdensome than the previous game.
Korea Electric Power Corp. added one point on the day, ending the season with 65 points, which still remains the most in the club’s history.
That doesn’t mean coach Shin will continue to lose on March 16.
On March 16, 2010, when he was the manager of Korean Air, he won 3-1 (25-21, 25-15, 23-25, 25-19) in the home game.
The game was held at Dowon Gymnasium, which is now the home of the women’s professional basketball team Shinhan Bank, and the opposing team was also a credit cooperative who no longer participated in professional volleyball.
Shouldn’t the team under Shin’s leadership at least have a bow to the Korea Volleyball Federation (KOVO) to ask them not to schedule the game on March 16th?